An earlier Tell It Like It
Is
Fibs (U.S.A., Kotex,
1930s-1940s) first successful Kotex tampon
(unsuccessful ones were probably: Fibs tampon
& box (about 1937) - ad - many newspaper
ads, 1935-59. And I have a cat named Fibs (more
cats).
Kotex stick
tampons (U.S.A.) & their ads, 1960s to
1970s - Comfortube tampons (1967), box, tampons.
(Tambrands donation, 1997)
 
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Tell It Like It Is
menstrual tampon-use booklet for women, 1981, Kimberly-Clark Corp. (Kotex
tampons and menstrual napkins, belts and underpants), U.S.A.
Complete booklet
Something big - and important - had happened since an earlier
Tell It Like It Is appeared: toxic shock syndrome.
Actually, TSS had probably worked its evil for untold years and even
affected (and affects) men. But its sudden outburst in tampon users is famously
associated with Rely tampon, which seemed to make
a wonderful breeding ground for the bacterium Staphylococcus
aureus, a ferocious causer of disease.
The outbreak forced tampon makers, at the insistence of the American
government, to warn women against allowing tampons of any kind to remain
in their vaginas for too long. Kotex warned women several times in this
booklet about this danger although most of the information and drawings
are from the earlier one. And it does not name the disease or say what caused
it - odd, since at least Procter & Gamble knew what it was when it send
its "stop" letter to dealers in 1980.
The public usually associates Kotex with menstrual pads. (Many Americans
use the name Kotex for any menstrual pad. At the end of a hearing on an
unrelated topic I attended years ago a gentleman stood up and announced
to the exiting audience, "He [me, your MUM] has a Kotex museum in his
house!"They looked as if they thought he was loony. Heh, heh, heh.)
But Kotex early, in the 1930s, made commercial tampons, maybe the first
ones - Moderne Women, fax and Nunap
- before it produced a seller in Fibs.
Fibs (U.S.A., Kotex,
1930s-1940s) first successful Kotex tampon
(unsuccessful ones were probably Moderne Women, fax
and Nunap) -
Fibs tampon & box (about 1937) - ad
- many newspaper ads, 1935-59. And I have a cat
named Fibs (more cats).
Kotex stick tampons
(U.S.A.) & their ads, 1960s to 1970s - Comfortube tampons (1967), box, tampons. (Tambrands
donation, 1997)
An earlier Tell It Like It Is
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Below: Front cover (p. 1). The back cover
is blank except for the number 281 in the lower left corner. Each page measures
6 x 8.5" (15.2 x 21.6 cm).
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© 2008 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute any
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