<P> Kotex is a brand of feminine 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 line of feminine hygiene products . Kotex is owned and managed by Kimberly - Clark, a consumer products corporation active in more than 80 countries . </P> <P> The modern, commercial, disposable pads seem to have started in the late nineteenth century with the Hartmann company in Germany, and Johnson & Johnson in the United States . In the United States, Kotex was launched in 1920 by Kimberly - Clark to make use of leftover cellucotton (wood pulp fiber) from World War One bandages . Kotex became well known in the 1920s after Kimberly - Clark placed advertisements in Good Housekeeping magazine . Although some readers were offended by the ads, the products' success led to more advertisements . Kimberly - Clark also promoted Kotex in Good Housekeeping by using intimate advice columnist Mary Pauline Callender . </P> <P> Originally sold in a hospital blue box at 12 for 60 cents, Victorian sexual prudishness caused slow acceptance until Montgomery Ward began advertising them in its 1926 catalog, reaching $11 million sales in 1927 in 57 countries . It became one of the first self - service items in American retailing history after it was strategically placed on countertops with a special payment box so that the woman didn't have to ask a clerk for it and touch hands . Tampax appeared in 1936 . Belts were needed until the 1970 introduction of Stayfree by Personal Products Co. and New Freedom Pads by Kimberly - Clark . </P>

When were kotex pads introduced to the market