POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Box of 'Modess' sanitary pads by Johnson & Johnson Pty Ltd

Object No. 2002/112/1

Modess sanitary towels were introduced to the Australian market by Johnson & Johnson in 1932. Disposable sanitary napkins were not entirely new, but Modess was an 'improved' product from the USA. A huge marketing campaign saw advertisements placed in leading women's magazines and the principal daily newspapers in all Australian states. Johnson & Johnson also developed a set of coloured showcards for chemist shop window displays. The essence of the advertisements was 'style and quality', expressed through illustrations by a French artist of a young woman in an elegant modern evening gown. Unobtrusive packaging had generally been used for products of this type, but Johnson & Johnson took another innovative approach by designing a box printed with three colours. Only a few years later, World War II brought austerity. Manufactured in Sydney in the 1940s, this package of Modess is in a plain brown, unbleached cardboard box. Its small printed label declares that it is a 'War Time Container'. Perforations around the label on the box allowed it to be torn off 'to avoid disclosing nature of contents'. Menstruation has been a private and, until the recent advent of explicit television commercials, almost unmentionable subject. It is therefore not surprising that the artefacts of menstruation are not well represented in Australian museum collections, even though they are an intrinsic part of women's lives. When cupboards are cleared out or when the effects of elderly relatives are being sorted through, personal items like these are usually amongst the first things to be thrown away. The Powerhouse has a small but growing collection of items relating to menstruation. It includes manufactured products like this box of Modess, home-made washable sanitary towels, advertising material, and advice booklets for girls.