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Paper short abstract

This paper examines Anne pads advertising from the 1960s, when the sanitary product was first produced, through its fading from view in the 1970s. It identifies three primary themes in the ads: the concealment of menstruation, the empowerment of women, and the aesthetics of the whiteness.

Paper long abstract

Scholars have identified two major turning points in the history of sanitary products in Japan: the first in the late Meiji and early Taishō periods, marked by the introduction of Western medical knowledge and the other in the 1960s with the invention of Anne Pads. Both periods also witnessed a proliferation of sanitary product advertising in women's magazines, alongside other media platforms.

This paper examines the Anne pads advertising from the 1960s, when the sanitary product was first produced, through its fading from view in the 1970s. The materials analyzed include advertisements published in Shufu no tomo (Housewife's Friend) and other women's magazines housed in the National Diet Library of Japan, as well as advertisements reproduced in published academic works. Through a textual analysis of both illustrations and catchphrases, situated within the social contexts in which these products were developed and promoted, this paper identifies three primary themes in Anne Pads advertisements.

First, it examines the concealment of menstruation, in relation to the stigma and the concept of kegare surrounding menstrual blood. Second, it analyzes discourses of women’s empowerment, as they are articulated within prevailing gender roles of the period. Third, it explores the aesthetics of whiteness, as manifested in the frequent depiction of white women in the illustrations used in these advertisements. The findings of this paper contribute to the fields of both critical menstruation studies and Japanese gender studies.

Key words: sanitary products, pads, menstruation, advertisement, concealment, empowerment