TY - JOUR
T1 - Tampon Technology in Britain
T2 - Unilever’s Project Hyacinth and 7-Day War Campaign, 1968–80
AU - Mork Rostvik, Camilla
N1 - Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the Unilever Archives, Liverpool, and the audience at the 2019 Society for Menstrual Cycle Research conference for their questions, especially from Professor Sharra Vostral. Sincere thanks to Dr. Catherine Spencer, Dr. Jesse Olszynko-Gryn and Professor Geoffrey Jones and warm thanks to editors Ruth Oldenziel and Hermione Giffard and reviewers for generous feedback and support. This research was supported by a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship
PY - 2022/1/15
Y1 - 2022/1/15
N2 - How much do we know about the historic relationship between the corporations that develop menstrual technologies and those who buy them? This article adds to the literature on users of gendered technology and feminist approaches by examining consumers’ role in Unilever’s new “superabsorbent” tampon in 1970s Britain. Investigating the creation of the absorbent material Lyogel, Unilever’s menstrual data collection, and the accompanying “7-Day War” marketing campaign, I demonstrate the link between technology, corporation, and consumer. Anonymous consumers gave Unilever information about their menstrual habits. This market research is repurposed to examine the lived experience of menstruation and consumers’ knowledge of menstrual technologies in times when talking about this topic was taboo.
AB - How much do we know about the historic relationship between the corporations that develop menstrual technologies and those who buy them? This article adds to the literature on users of gendered technology and feminist approaches by examining consumers’ role in Unilever’s new “superabsorbent” tampon in 1970s Britain. Investigating the creation of the absorbent material Lyogel, Unilever’s menstrual data collection, and the accompanying “7-Day War” marketing campaign, I demonstrate the link between technology, corporation, and consumer. Anonymous consumers gave Unilever information about their menstrual habits. This market research is repurposed to examine the lived experience of menstruation and consumers’ knowledge of menstrual technologies in times when talking about this topic was taboo.
KW - tampons
KW - critical menstrual studies
KW - Feminist Science and Technology Studies
KW - Unilever
KW - Feminist Business History
U2 - 10.1353/tech.2022.0002
DO - 10.1353/tech.2022.0002
M3 - Article
VL - 63
SP - 61
EP - 86
JO - Technology and Culture
JF - Technology and Culture
SN - 0040-165X
IS - 1
ER -
