 | |
 | |
| Product type | Tampon |
|---|---|
| Owner | Edgewell Personal Care |
| Introduced | March 1950 |
| Markets | Worldwide |
| Previous owners |
|
| Website | ob-tampons |
o.b. is a brand of tampon, originally developed in Germany in 1950 and manufactured by Carl Hahn GmbH. It is now owned by Kenvue outside of the United States and Edgewell in the US. The product was named by the gynecologist Judith Esser-Mittag who also developed it. The initials o.b. are an abbreviation of the German phrase ohne Binde ('without napkin'). [1]
The idea for a tampon which could be inserted without a separate applicator was initiated in 1947 by the German auto engineer Carl Hahn and the lawyer Heinz Mittag. They wanted to introduce tampons to the German market, but the cardboard used for the applicator in the American tampon product Tampax, which at the time dominated the market, was unavailable in post-war Germany. Hahn and Mittag approached Karl Julius Anselmino, director of the Landesfrauenklinik women's hospital in Wuppertal for advice on its design and development. He told them that the job required a woman and recommended the young gynecologist Judith Esser. Esser's finished design went into production in Wuppertal in March 1950. By 2010 the Wuppertal plant had become the largest tampon factory in the world and was exporting to over 30 countries. [2] [3]
In 1974 Johnson & Johnson took over Hahn's company and two years later introduced o.b. tampons to the American market with an $8 million advertising campaign on television and radio. [2] [4] Esser herself appeared in some of the later American television commercials. [5] Johnson & Johnson introduced o.b. tampons in China in 1993, and as of 2016 they were still the only brand of tampon sold in Chinese stores. [6]
In 2013 the o.b. brand in the United States was acquired from Johnson & Johnson by Edgewell Personal Care. Kenvue (the former subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health) remains the brand owner internationally. [7]
Budweiser is an American-style pale lager, a brand of Belgian company AB InBev. Introduced in 1876 by Carl Conrad & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, Budweiser has become a large selling beer company in the United States. Budweiser is a filtered beer, available on draft and in bottles and cans, made with up to 30% rice in addition to hops and barley malt.
A tampon is a menstrual product designed to absorb blood and vaginal secretions by insertion into the vagina during menstruation. Unlike a pad, it is placed internally, inside of the vaginal canal. Once inserted correctly, a tampon is held in place by the vagina and expands as it soaks up menstrual blood. However, in addition to menstrual blood, the tampon also absorbs the vagina's natural lubrication and bacteria, which can change the normal pH, increasing the risk of infections from the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, which can lead to toxic shock syndrome (TSS). TSS is a rare but life-threatening infection that requires immediate medical attention.
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Kotex is an American brand of menstrual hygiene products, which includes the Kotex maxi, thin and ultra-thin pads, the Security tampons, and the Lightdays pantiliners. Most recently, the company has added U by Kotex to its menstrual hygiene product line. Kotex is owned and managed by Kimberly-Clark, a consumer products corporation active in more than 80 countries.
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Always is an American brand of menstrual hygiene products, including maxi pads, ultra thin pads, pantyliners, disposable underwear for night-time wear, and vaginal wipes. A sister company of Procter & Gamble, it was first invented and introduced in the United States in 1983 by Tom Osborn, a mid-level employee at Procter & Gamble, then nationally in May 1984. By the end of 1984, Always had also been introduced internationally in the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Arab world, Pakistan and Africa. Despite the Always' pads runaway international success, Procter & Gamble almost fired Tom Osborn twice in the early 1980s as he was developing this product.
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Carl Horst Hahn was a German businessman and head of the Volkswagen Group from 1982 to 1993. He served as the chairman of the board of management of the parent company, Volkswagen AG. During his tenure, the group's car production increased from two million units in 1982 to 3.5 million a decade later.
The Story of Menstruation is a 1946 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions. It was commissioned by the International Cello-Cotton Company and was shown in a non-theatrical release to approximately 105 million American students in health education classes. In 2015, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
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