New
Zealand Meds, 1970 -
American Meds, 1940s-1950s? -
Meds (U.S.A. and elsewhere, box and
tampon, 1967, Personal Products Company) - pamphlet
introducing Meds to the world (U.S.A.,
1930s) - 1941
American ad - Personal
Digest leaflets (U.S.A.), which
sometimes have information about Meds
(1966-67) - 1967
ad - undated instructions here and here. - Australian ad,
1950s
"Educational Portfolio
on Menstrual Hygiene" (1968)
U.S.A. Teacher's kit for Modess sanitary napkins,
menstrual tampons and panties
(mostly complete)
"A Teaching Guide for Menstrual Hygiene" (cover, 1962,
Personal Products Corp. [Modess], U.S.A.)
"A Teacher's Guide to
Feminine Hygiene" (cover, 1973,
Personal Products Corp. [Modess], U.S.A.)
"Your Image is Your
Fortune!,"
Modess sales-hints booklet for stores
similar to the one below, 1967 (U.S.A.)
Modess (Johnson & Johnson,
U.S.A.) 1927 Gilbreth
report to Johnson & Johnson about Modess
- newspaper ads 1927-28
- "Silent Purchase"
ad, June 1928 - ad, 1928
- "Modernizing Mother" ads: #1, February
1929 ("Mother . . .
don't be quaint"); #3 April 1929 ("Don't weaken, Mother");
#5, June 1929 ("Never
mind, Mother, you'll learn") - ad about concealing
pad, 1930 - ad
compared with Kotex ad, 1931 - ad, 1931 - wrapped Modess pad
for dispenser, 1930s? - Ad, U.K., 1936 - True or False? ad
in The American Girl magazine, January 1947
- Australian ad,
1957 - ad (1956)
with "Modess . . . . because" ad
incorporated into it - ad for "Growing Up
and Liking It" booklet (1963, Modess) -
actress Carol Lynley
in "How shall I tell my daughter?" booklet
ad (1955) - Modess . .
. . because ads (many dates) - French ad, 1970s?
- ad, French,
1972, photo by David Hamilton - Personal Digest
leaflets (6), 1966-67: describe Modess
products - How Modess
Sanitary Napkins Began: excerpts
from"A Company That Cares: One Hundred Year
Illustrated History of Johnson and Johnson"
MUCH MORE MODESS INFORMATION AND PRODUCTS
The first Tampax
|
Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health
Meds menstrual
tampons, super, 10 tampons
(1969, Laboratoires Péloille, France)
plastic applicator
This Meds, from France,
represents a late version of the doomed brand
(along with its sister Modess).
But the maker (or distributor?) is
not the original one, Johnson
& Johnson, but a French firm,
Laboratoires Péloille.
Although
the box is different, the almost
contemporary (1969) Meds tampon
plug (the business part)
from New Zealand looks
identical to this French one.
But
the New Zealand tampon has no
applicator and the plugs
are loose in a plastic bag.
(The
original
Meds had an applicator.)
As with
many of the Tambrands
gifts to this museum,
dating this box is easy:
someone at Tambrands affixed a
label (below) with "Rec'd 9/5/69
FROM FRANCE" on it.
In
an announcement
(1975) directed at American
retailers, Playtex claimed the first
plastic tampon insertion device,
the same material this Meds tampon
is composed of.
See what might be the first "super"
tampon by this name - from
Tampax.
I thank the
former Tambrands, which made
Tampax before Procter &
Gamble bought the company, for
donating the box, part of a gift of about 1000 menstrual
products and documents!
|
Below:
The cardboard
box measures 5 3/8 x 3
3/4 x 1 1/2" (13.6 x 9.5 x 3.8
cm).
The front and back sides are
different. Pull the golden
strip and the
cellophane-like wrapping peels off
easily. I don't know who wrote
"3.60x" but the label with "Rec'd
9/5/69" is consistent with many
items from the Tambrands donation.
At top, "Dougliss"
might identify the inventor or
maker of the applicator. In
Germany,
a chain of drug stores (not
pharmacies) has the name "Douglas,"
which sells menstrual
products but not prescription
drugs. You'll see in the next
picture that this Meds was sold
exclusively in pharmacies,
although if they differ from the
German concept I don't know.
|
 |
Below:
The picture of the
applicator is
unfortunately the best I can do.
When my Macintosh
computer failed weeks ago, my old,
trusty scanner couldn't work with
the new machine - I read that this
is Apple policy - and the new
scanner an Apple saleswoman urged
I buy is so lousy it can't scan
shallow
3-D objects. Plus, after allowing
me to transfer the digital photos
on this page to the new computer
it refused to upload the photos of
the tampon and applicator itself.
Is this a Puritanical
computer?
|
 |
Below:
One end of the box.
|
 |
Below:
The other end.
Tampon
packaging early on illustrated
that by using tampons women could
do things they couldn't with pads,
or at least more easily. This
American early
clip sheet (1930s) shows
that women could drive (!), golf,
work in an office (!!)
and do other activities that pads
could hinder. The Tampax company history
discusses this.
|
 |
Below:
The two long
sides are identical. The fuzziness
at right comes from my crummy
new scanner.
|
 |
New
Zealand Meds, 1970 -
American Meds, 1940s-1950s?
- Meds
(U.S.A. and elsewhere, box and
tampon, 1967, Personal Products
Company) - pamphlet
introducing Meds to the world
(U.S.A., 1930s) - American
1941 ad - Personal
Digest (U.S.A.) leaflets,
which sometimes have information
about Meds (1966-67) - American 1967
ad - undated American instructions
here
and here
- Australian
ad, 1950s
"Educational
Portfolio on Menstrual Hygiene"
(1968) U.S.A. Teacher's kit for Modess sanitary
napkins, menstrual tampons
and panties (mostly complete)
"A Teaching Guide for Menstrual
Hygiene" (cover,
1962, Personal Products Corp.,
U.S.A.)
"A Teacher's
Guide to Feminine Hygiene" (cover,
1973, Personal Products Corp.,
U.S.A.)
"Your Image is
Your Fortune!," Modess
sales-hints booklet for stores
similar to the one below, 1967
(U.S.A.)
MUCH MORE MODESS INFORMATION AND
PRODUCTS
Early commercial
tampons - Rely tampon
- Meds
tampon (Modess)
The first Tampax
- Tampon
directory.
|
© 2011 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 hfinley@mum.org\
|