Follies of the Mad Men #4

[From Good Housekeeping for October 1939.]

Here's a great example of Madison Avenue trying to a) make a problem that doesn't exist or is minimal into an overwhelming burden that only their product can alleviate and b) bring the vaunted "miraculous" power of scientists and scientific imagery into the marketing mix.

Did women in 1939--or ever--really ask their friends for a hygienic crotch alert?

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Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Comments

These still don't top the old ads that encouraged women to douche with Lysol.

Posted by MadCarlotta on 07/18/08 at 02:56 PM

Kudos, Paul! You've finally answered the question, "Are there actually females that read this blog?" 😉

Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 07/19/08 at 12:28 AM

I'm female, and I think it's spongeworthy. 😊

Posted by MadCarlotta on 07/19/08 at 05:55 PM

I appreciate all the fine comments this post inspired. I confess to my question being phrased with deliberate outrageousness, just to provoke such a discussion, as I suspected before the post already that:

1) Women did recruit other women to help them vet their appearance in all manner of ways.

2) The history of femininine hygiene did get revolutionized during this era.

Posted by Paul on 07/21/08 at 10:13 AM

A She--my wording was imprecise. Obviously, menstruation is an eternal female burden (privilege?) to a greater or lesser degree for every individual. But what I was trying to get at is that this bodily process has been around since our species began, and presumably women had excellent coping methods prior to Madison Avenue trying to convince them that they did not, and could only survive now thanks to new technology.

Posted by Paul on 08/04/08 at 10:38 AM

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