Similar Kotex WWII ads:
Got any secret longings? (U.S.A., Kotex pads, June 1941)
Boys, clothers, parties, dates (U.S.A., Kotex napkins and belts, 1941)
"It just isn't fair!" (U.S.A., Kotex napkins, Nov. 1941)
How do they do it? (U.S.A., Kotex napkins and belts, 1942)
And I promised Mom (U.S.A., Kotex napkins and "As One Girl To Another" booklet, 1943)
Are you in the know? (U.S.A., Kotex napkins and Quest napkin powder, 1944)
Are you in the know? (U.S.A., Kotex napkins, World War II)
More ads for teenagers
Many more PADS, BOOKLETS - See TAMPONS, MENSTRUAL BELTS, CUPS, SPONGES, UNDERPANTS
Booklets menstrual hygiene companies made for girls, women and teachers - patent medicine - a list of books and articles about menstruation
See early tampons and a list of tampons on this site - at least the ones I've cataloged.
HOMEPAGE
CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site links:
HOMEPAGE |
MUM address & What does MUM mean? |
Email the museum |
Privacy on this site |
Who runs this museum?? |
Amazing women! |
Art of menstruation (and awesome ancient art of menstruation) |
Artists (non-menstrual) |
Asbestos |
Belts |
Bidets |
Birth control and religion |
Birth control drugs, old |
Birth control douche & sponges |
Founder bio |
Bly, Nellie |
MUM board |
Books: menstruation & menopause (& reviews) |
Cats |
Company booklets for girls (mostly) directory |
Contraception and religion |
Contraceptive drugs, old |
Contraceptive douche & sponges |
Costumes |
Menstrual cups |
Cup usage |
Dispensers |
Douches, pain, sprays |
Essay directory |
Examination, gynecological (pelvic) (short history) |
Extraction |
Facts-of-life booklets for girls |
Famous women in menstrual hygiene ads |
FAQ |
Feminine napkin, towel, pad directory |
Founder/director biography |
Gynecological topics by Dr. Soucasaux |
Humor |
Huts |
Links |
Masturbation |
Media coverage of MUM |
Menarche booklets for girls and parents |
Miscellaneous |
Museum future |
Norwegian menstruation exhibit |
Odor |
Olor |
Pad, towel, napkin directory |
Patent medicine |
Poetry directory |
Products, some current |
Puberty booklets for girls and parents|
Religion |
Religión y menstruación |
Your remedies for menstrual discomfort |
Menstrual products safety |
Sanitary napkin, towel, pad directory |
Seguridad de productos para la menstruación |
Science |
Shame |
Slapping, menstrual |
Sponges |
Synchrony |
Tampon directory |
Early tampons |
Teen ads directory |
Tour of the former museum (video) |
Towel, pad, sanitary napkin directory |
Underpants & panties directory |
Videos, films directory |
Words and expressions about menstruation |
Would you stop menstruating if you could? |
What did women do about menstruation in the past? |
Washable pads |
Read 10 years (1996-2006) of articles and Letters to Your MUM on this site.
Leer la versión en español de los siguientes temas: Anticoncepción y religión, Breve reseña - Olor - Religión y menstruación - Seguridad de productos para la menstruación.

You're fit to be tied!...
Ad for Kotex menstrual pads, probably early 1940s, U.S.A., International Cellucotton Products Co.
Magazine unknown.

Kotex published a series of excellent-looking ads during World War II aimed at teenagers - one lies below and links to others are at left and at the bottom of the page (more ads for teenagers). Many of Kotex's ads appeared in two colors, black and the iconic Kotex blue, a color that tinted water in menstrual product ads for decades because of fear of red, a dreaded reminder of what their products dealt with. Horrors! (Some companies emphasized white, the opposite of, um, a used pad.)

I date the ad to the World War II era by similar ads (at left) and the vaguely military uniform the distressed heroine wears. The ad mentions As One Girl To Another, published in 1940. I believe the next Kotex booklet made its debut in 1948, Very Personally Yours.

Below: Note the Kotex blue for those blue days, for many women anyway.
In A Girl's Private Life (the box with pin at bottom left), well, see the booklet "As One Girl To Another"
(with the misplaced, um, period).
(See comments on her suit in the right-hand column.)
Below: The ad girl's suit resembled the tailored suits of The Women's Army Corps, which in turn reflected fashion of the time. This was WAR and Kotex WAS patriotic!
(Photo from Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, Wisconsin Veterans Museum at
http://museum.dva.state.wi.us/Gal_Online_WACs.asp)
 
Below: Kotex introduces even more mystery into menstruation!
Mr. Big, fuming to himself: "What the #*&$ is she looking at?"
The red line follows her gaze.
Below: He's everywhere! Well, in 1940s Kotex ads, anyway. OK, many of them. It's Irving Nurick!
 
Below: Mr. Big, there are some things bigger than you! Like the no-Kotex-wearing-girl's shoes!
(It's a girl thing.) Actually, Irving the artist probably meant to aim her eyes at
the dropped purse but doing so would have shot the red line through Mr. Big's head,
which would have missed the point (not his) of her smirking at the ad heroine's distress.
I bet the tigress wears Kotex (Read the ad.) I'll bet a Glenn Miller record.
 
 


End | Similar WWII Kotex ads: Got any secret longings? (U.S.A., Kotex pads, June 1941), You're fit to be tied!... (U.S.A.,Kotex pads, probably early 1940s), Boys, clothers, parties, dates (U.S.A., Kotex napkins and belts, 1941), "It just isn't fair!" (U.S.A., Kotex napkins, Nov. 1941), How do they do it? (U.S.A., Kotex napkins and belts, 1942), And I promised Mom (U.S.A., Kotex napkins and "As One Girl To Another" booklet, 1943), Are you in the know? (U.S.A., Kotex napkins and Quest napkin powder, 1944), Are you in the know? (U.S.A., Kotex napkins, World War II)
More ads for teenagers

Many more
BOOKLETS - See TAMPONS, MENSTRUAL BELTS, PADS, CUPS, SPONGES, UNDERPANTS

© 2010 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute any of the work on this Web site in any manner or medium
without written permission of the author. Please report suspected violations to [email protected]