Dr White Shapes (pads), U.K.,
ad-writing contest, 1990
Pad directory
See a Modess True or False? ad in The American Girl magazine, January 1947, and actress Carol Lynley in "How Shall I Tell My Daughter" booklet ad (1955) - Modess . . . . because ads (many dates)
CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site links:
homepageMUM address & What does MUM mean? | e-mail the museum | privacy on this site | who runs this museum?? |
Amazing women! | the art of menstruation | artists (non-menstrual) | asbestos | belts | bidets | founder bio | Bly, Nellie | MUM board | books: menstruation and menopause (and reviews) | cats | company booklets for girls (mostly) directory | contraception and religion | costumes | menstrual cups | cup usage | dispensers | douches, pain, sprays | essay directory | extraction | facts-of-life booklets for girls | famous women in menstrual hygiene ads | FAQ | 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 directory | patent medicine | poetry directory | products, current | puberty booklets for girls and parents | religion | Religión y menstruación | your remedies for menstrual discomfort | menstrual products safety | science | Seguridad de productos para la menstruación | shame | slapping, menstrual | sponges | synchrony | tampon directory | early tampons | teen ads directory | tour of the former museum (video) | 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
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

Always menstrual pads ad text - Ad Wiz - contest result, plus ad, U.S.A.
Sassy magazine, May 1994

She won the contest! Um, she did??

Ad wiz, ad shmiz.

Read Sassy magazine's coverage of the 15-year-old winning writer of the text of the accompanying cartoon ad below.

The magazine flew her to New York City from Toronto (her first plane trip!), wined and dined her, showed her New York.

And then the ad agency didn't use her text.

Did it appear in another version of the same cartoon? This series featured many different cartoon situations, which makes me doubt two different texts would accompany the same ad. But it did include some of her wording.

Maybe that introduced her to the viciously competitive ad industry. I've worked in public relations; everyone wants to change "glad" to "happy."

What's Marta Zakrzewska doing today?

Well, according to my Web search she did later write copy in advertising. Google her to find out more.

...............................

BTW, in the mid 1990s, when the museum was open to the public in my house, this same magazine, Sassy, advised me in print: "Stick to jock itch products, buddy." A few years later a similar magazine, Bust, made me one of its "Men We Love, 'Bustiest,'" in its Fall 2000 issue. Members of the Bust staff visited the museum; Sassy never did.

Sassy folded, Bust survives. I think there's a lesson there. Cross your MUM, will you?!

Read more media coverage of this museum.

Below: In my files I found this page stapled to the top of the second page (at bottom).
On the back of the second page I wrote "Sassy May 94."
I assume they appeared in the same issue, the cartoon ad
following the Ad Wiz story.
Below: The printed ad in Sassy, May 1994, which seems to have followed the story, above.
The fuzzy writing at bottom left reads
+ Data vs. leading regular-sized,
non-winged maxi pads.

Look at the massive changes to the winning text.
Dr White Shapes (pads), U.K., ad-writing contest, 1990

Copyright 2012 Harry Finley