ABSTRACT
Tampons, once the symbol of freedom for women, have become stigmatized as a health hazard. A Taylor Nelson business consultancy survey shows that in the past five years there has been a 17 per cent reduction of tampon use in the UK, with a switch to other hygiene products, notably pads. Ironically, the company most closely associated with the first TSS scare, Procter & Gamble Co., whose tampon ‘Rely’ had to be withdrawn in the early 1980s, has just bought Tambrands Ltd, the producers of market leader Tampax. P&G must be praying that they have better luck in the tampon market than they did fifteen years ago. Unfortunately, in today’s climate of fear, engendered by health and environmental scaremongers, their success is not in their hands, but on media pressure on an increasingly jittery female customer. Let’s hope that Blair’s wise women see through the manipulation and let businesses have their say.
