Tampons weren't a huge hit when they first came on the market in the 1800s. Girls were worried that tampons could get lost inside of them, take away their virginity, block their period or be sexually arousing to insert. And when it came to insertion, girls were even more freaked out by tampons without applicators.

In the 1950s, Pursettes began marketing tampons without applicators. The cotton tip was lubricated for easy insertion and the tampons came with a black carrying case, which led Pursettes to refer to their product in ads as the "tote tampons."

The company published cartoon ads that usually included a girl who thought she'd have to miss out on something fun (like skiing or biking) because of her period, until a friend introduced her to Pursettes tampons. The girl would try Pursettes and, of course, have the time of her life--and usually catch the eye of her crush. All because of her tampon! Gee, that sounds like a familiar advertising technique...

Because tampon technology wasn't perfect yet and tampons often leaked, Pursettes developed the pad panty to use in conjunction with tampons. Pad panties had an absorbent inner crotch and a waterproof (probably plastic) outer crotch.

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