Pictures of this cup and others.
Tentative history of this cup.
Older comments from users of menstrual cups.
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.


MUSEUM OF MENSTRUATION AND WOMEN'S HEALTH

Tassette rubber menstrual cup (catamenial receptor)
Story about the "advertising bad taste" of a billboard in
Times Square and of radio spots, in Advertising Age
, probably 1961.


Menstrual products companies, advertisers, and the public have gone around
for decades about the appropriateness of advertising menstrual products.
Read some of the considerations ad makers had about Kotex. And see very
public ads in the Netherlands and London, England.

And many people, people who should know better, have criticized me for starting
this museum, originally in my house.

Tentative history of this cup,
pictures & sketchy history of American menstrual cups

"a fresh point of view," pamphlet here & here

Below: A friend of the museum faxed me the Advertising Age article in the mid 1990s; as you can see it's deteriorated since then.

See a better copy of the photo and a transcription at right.

Read another article about the billboard.

Below: The same photo, different caption, in Drug Trade News, 20 March 1961 (here).
Below: The article transcribed.
Tassette, Copy Unit Hassle on 'Bad taste' Sign

New York, Nov. 15 -- Tassette Inc., Stamford, maker of feminine hygiene products, has had trouble getting commercials accepted (AA, Feb. 13) and is now under fire for its 40' Times Sq. spectacular.

A majority of the Assn. of National Advertisers-American Assn. of Advertising Agencies committee for improvement of advertising has found the sign "in bad taste, harmful for some other reason, and 'serious' in the probable effect on advertising as a whole." The joint committee notified Tassette and its agency, Weiss & Geller [spelling?], New York, of this action in a letter Oct. 23.

An advertising code that prevents a consumer from learning about a "beneficial" product should be changed, Robert P. Oreck, tassette's president retorted to the joint committee in a letter Nov. 6.

"No advertising code," he said, "whether for television, radio, magazines, newspapers or bill-boards is defensible if it prevents women from learning the facts about a product that has been ethically tested and not only judged beneficial by the medical profession, but also found beneficial by women who have tried it. Any code that has such an effect should be reviewed and changed."

Tassette announced a $200,000 ad drive early this year (AA, Jan. 30) for metropolitan New York. The device, a soft rubber cup worn internally, replaces tampons and sanitary napkins for feminine hygiene and sells for $4.95. It had been test-marketed for two years in five markets.

The manufacturer's announcement said that large-space ads were slated for metropolitan New York newspapers and a saturation spot schedule would be carried on four stations.  The company said at the time that it was having no difficulties getting its commercials accepted.

Subsequently three of the four stations rejected the commercials. The three, WFYI, Garden City, WVIP, Mt. Kisco, and WVOX, New Rochelle, all owned by the New York herald Tribune, excused themselves from the drive after Martin Stone, president, found the commercials "unacceptable." WNTA, Newark, accepted the spots. Some newspapers on the schedule requested a few copy changes, but none refused to carry the ads.

Tassette Inc. later this year (AA ?) following its introductory [?] endeavored to [?] a 200,- [rest unreadable or missing].

Undated ad for Tassette: "3 out of 4 nurses use Tassette" - newspaper article, 20 March 1961: "New Menstrual Aid Offered on National basis" -
undated leaflet: "'Tassette' menstrual cup for internal sanitary protection" - undated leaflet: "a fresh point of view" (#1) -
Tassette stock prospectus, 1961 - "Tassette: the safe and sanitary menstrual cup" - "a fresh point of view" (#2) -
"A Note to the Budget Minded" - "Tassette Menstrual Cup: The ultimate in Sanitary Protection" - the third "a fresh point of view"
Pictures of this cup and others. Tentative history of this cup. Older comments from users of menstrual cups.

© 2013 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\