Gauzets Sanitary Napkins
Artist
Designer Unknown
Date1928
MediumStone Lithograph
Dimensions34 3/4 x 22 in. (88.3 x 55.9 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LinePoster House Permanent Collection
Object numberPH.5697
DescriptionThis 1928 poster by an unknown designer promotes Gauzets sanitary napkins at a point when there had been a real shift in the development of feminine hygiene products. During World War I, nurses used absorbent Cellucotton made from wood pulp by Kimberly-Clark, both to bandage soldiers and to absorb menstrual blood. After the war, Kimberly-Clark used Cellucotton to produce Kotex, introducing the sanitary napkins in 1920. While earlier brands had been available by mail order, Kotex was the first to be associated with a serious advertising campaign. Cheaper brands like Gauzets soon followed. This poster combines traditional feminine motifs like flowers, a fan, and a reading lamp (and a great deal of pink) with images of a modern woman dancing with a man and playing sports, assisted by Gauzets sanitary napkins. (They were available only at Rexall and Liggett drug stores, hence the Rexall logo at lower left.) A 1933 advertisement for the product in Hygeia magazine, published by the American Medical Association, stated “At last you can enjoy perfect freedom from an old worry that has haunted women since time began!"On View
Not on view
