See a roughly contemporary
pad, Society, and
a "silent purchase"
ad for Modess, 1928.
Other Modess ads:
1931,"Modess . . . . because"
ads, the French
Modess, and the German "Freedom"
(Kimberly-Clark) for teens.
See a prototype
of the first Kotex ad.
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The perfect menstrual pad 2a (1 2 2a 3 4 4a 5):
Box for 1930s Modess
pad
"Report of Gilbreth,
Inc.," to Johnson & Johnson
Company, 1 January 1927, about how to
improve the company's menstrual products,
especially with regard to competition with
Kotex pads
The box is as blue as you can
get, in spite of Dr.
Gilbreth's exasperation with
the color; and Kotex was famously
blue. Maybe the "blue fluid" so
laughed at today in menstrual
products advertising is simply a
carryover of an advertising
gimmick, that of putting the
company color everywhere.
As I mentioned earlier,
the company calls it a "boudoir
box," and intended it to be
unidentifiable. But it has writing
on all six sides (you see only
three, below) and the word
"Modess" is 5.25" (13.4 cm) long
and 1.125" (2.9 cm) high on each
of the four long sides. Go figure.
The box measures 7.75" (20.5 cm)
wide, 3" (7.6 cm) high and 3.25"
(8.2 cm) deep.
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The copy of the report that I
read, which might be unique,
rests in the special collections
of Purdue University, West
Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.A. Dr.
Gilbreth was the first woman
engineering professor at Purdue.
©
1999 Harry Finley. It is illegal
to reproduce or distribute work
on this Web site in any manner
or medium without written
permission of the author. Please
report suspected violations to hfinley@mum.org
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