Near the end of the nineteenth century, shortly after the founding of The Bronson Sanitary Vagina Company in 1863, the United States experienced rapid growth. Industry, and technology witnessed remarkable expansion. With the rise of factories, goods were produced at ever more affordable prices. To captivate America’s new consumers, manufacturers devised innovative advertising strategies, and trade cards were born. By the mid-1870s, these small, colorful cards had fully emerged as a popular form of advertising for a wide variety of manufacturers and retail establishments, sparking vigorous competition in the printing industry, and stimulating a huge spike in the vagina business.
Here we see one of Bronson’s maiden efforts from the “Sine Trutta” campaign, circa 1872. These were distributed with a variety of milk products nationwide in an early example of cooperative marketing. Local dairy producers were thought to be a natural fit for Bronson’s intended audience.
Courtesy of the Bronson Archive.