See also the first Kotex ad (1921) - Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday, (Kotex booklet, 1928), which has many Kotex links - the booklet Preparing for Womanhood (by Kotex, ca. 1928)- "Are you in the know?" ads (Kotex) (1949)(1953)(1964)(booklet, 1956) - and more ads on the Ads for Teenagers main pageSee the Kotex Quest
menstrual pad deodorant.
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Kotex menstrual pad ad, U.S.A., August, 1921
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| Would you travel
while menstruating if you had to wash out and dry
the cloth
pad after using it? In a
hotel? In a friend's house? That's what I
thought. Kotex didn't make the first throw-away pad but made it more common right after World War I. This ad appeared near the beginning of Kotex's career. See maybe the first big Kotex ad and another small one. And some articles about the new thing Kotex was made of, Cellucotton. Theatre Magazine? That spelling seems hoity-toity but might have fit the people who would read this monthly. Just look at the ads below if you doubt me. Never doubt your MUM. Never. In addition: A Japanese menstrual art mystery - solved? Like, like, an Anne Frank tampon? In Japan? Totally! |
another drew the line; an artist drew the picture. Then a worker photographed the whole page to make a printing plate. Finally, a press churned it out with the rest of the plates to make the magazine. Sorry, just thought you'd want to know. Today someone at a computer does the layout much faster - and cleaner. |
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| Below:
Chances are the woman in the
bathing suit was NOT
using the huge Kotex pad offered right below her. If she dared immerse herself, the menstrual blood would fight the water for a place in the bloated pad - and the blood would leak everywhere. And unless she used a homemade tampon (or sponge) - unlikely - she couldn't use a commercial tampon because Kotex and Tampax and others hadn't sold theirs yet. |
Below:
So where's this funny Japanese picture in the ad? Nowhere! Tricked you! Well, I want to show you something about female beauty in two cultures below. |
Below:
Who read Theatre Magazine? Read
the text for clues. And look at
her theatrical pose: her
eyes, hands and arms like the
walking woman, below, right,
enlarged all the way at the
bottom. And artificial
- hoity-toity. |
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Left:
The woman in the Japanese print
and in the ad have tiny -
delicate? - mouths. The
little beak is common in
early Japanese prints - but only
in pictures of women. Men (below)
are more realistic although the eyes
- well, he's full of hatred
(according to the source, below)
and is an actor. Just like our ad
woman. Look at the teeth in the pictures. Japanese women often blackened their teeth. The American has white teeth, the home team ideal. The man's teeth - white - menace while peering out below the upper lip. Japanese Woman (a prostitute): Section of "The Courtesan Hinazuru of Choi-ya" by Eisui, late 1790s. The Art Institute of Chicago. Japanese man, bottom: Section of "The Actor Tanimura as Washizuka Yaheiji" by Sharaku, 1794. Honolulu Academy of Arts. Both from Ukiyo-E: 250 Years of Japanese Art, Neuer and Yoshida, 1978. A Japanese menstrual art mystery - solved? Instructions for making Japanese washable menstrual pads (early 20th century?) |
More Kotex: Ad 1928 (Sears and Roebuck catalog) - Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday
© 2014 Harry Finley. It is
illegal to reproduce or
distribute work
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Left: The
woman in the ad walking dramatically
on the beach. Compare her raised
left hand with the hands of the
large woman. |
