1960s

Above: Kotex is Confidence

The beginning of the 60s started with a new slogan “Kotex is confidence”. As seen in this series of ads, the type of clothing worn by the women was not confined to that of a typical home-marker look. The women were dressed in various outfits corresponding to their lifestyles outside their homes, with the central theme being that women had more of a role to play outside their family and that they are ready for the world outside. Additionally, the women photographed were seen to be looking at something or somewhere else and not having a direct visual with the audience’s eyes. They appeared to be captured in motion and unaware of being photographed. This adds to the portrayal of an image of the easiness of women in their own skin. From this two signifiers, that of the dressing and the gaze of the women, it can be said that the ads are either a reinforcement of the notion that women have indeed become more secure and comfortable with their position in society or that the ads are acting as an agent of change, trying to put forward such a mindset about women in society. With the emergence of the second wave of the feminist movement coupled with the fact that the ads connotes the notion of the audience taking a “peak” into the lives of these women, the signified meaning would be to inform women that now, the 60s, is the time when women step out of the traditional role of a housewife and become confident about their status in society. Kotex wanted to challenge the hegemony of men to focus more attention on women and their needs in order to increase their sales. Lastly, this series of ads also do show how the initial taboo of the unspoken-ness of Kotex napkins and the embarrassment that comes along has slowly but surely been broken.

Left: 1969 ad Right: Kotex Soft Impressions

In the second half of the 1960s, Kotex introduced a new type of sanitary napkins, Kotex Soft-Impressions, with a series of ads similar to that of a high fashion editorial shoot. The introductory period of the ads in 1966 and 1967 focused more on explaining the benefits of this new type of Kotex napkins as seen from the heavily worded ads. Although there was more text in these ads as compared to the ads in the beginning of the 1960s, a similarity shared was that the space occupied by text remained at about a quarter of the page, with the centre of attention still focused on the women. On the other hand, towards the end of the 60s, the ads in 1969 saw a change in Kotex ads through its use of wordplay, which, had not been done previously. The text was short and its font size consistent. In addition, the choice of words also signalled a new change in the attitude of women of the 60s. This was seen in the ads in 1969. Coupled with the clothes worn by the women which were very fashionable and the fact that the women were looking straight into the eyes of the audience, these signifiers showed women as being more confident and self-assured as compared to the portrayal of women in the earlier half of the 1960s and it also presented a celebration of the many positive qualities of a woman.

It can thus be seen through the Kotex ads that in this decade, women had progress from being comfortable and confident about their position in society into celebrating their feminine characteristics and showcasing it to the world. The 1960s thus marked the affirmation of women and them not requiring men to affirm their status anymore, as portrayed in the ads of the 50s.