Oh, this must have caused some babies...

[blinkytreefrog.livejournal.com]

I found a copy of Australian Home Journal from 1960, and I have to say, there are some awesome old ads in there. Here's a couple that are sure to appeal to worried women:



Made by Swiss precision experts! So it must align your ovaries like a watch! That'll teach the stork!

And then there's this one:



Yes, that's right, it's safe, natural, foolproof, accurate, risk-free and worry-free. Could claiming all this cause people to not be as careful about using it as they should be, therefore causing even more 'accidents' than this method normally does? No, that couldn't possibly happen...

Comments

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

{sigh}

Oh well. At least they were trying.

And spacing the babies out, which is one thing this system did do fairly well {it wasn't foolproof, but it did cut the times between pregnancies down a little, giving the women more chance to recover between them, and slightly older children to look after while pregnant.}

[farranger.livejournal.com]

At least it's approved by "church groups." You wouldn't want a PSA ad that said, "Conception is possible only a few days a month, so if you want to get pregnant fuck every day."

[hooverdam.livejournal.com]

These also operate on the assumption that every woman has a regular 28 day cycle, which, while many do, many do not.

However, you can still get devices like these: http://www.cyclebeads.com/ <--advertised less as FOOLPROOF and EFFECTIVE and more as reasonably effective for preventing (or planning) pregnancy and good for teaching women how to track their cycles.

[charliesmum.livejournal.com]

I love the use of the word 'appliances' in the 2nd ad. The images that brings to mind...

Also all 'married' women. Nice clarification there, copy editor guy.

[julia-sevin.livejournal.com]

Haha, do you live in Amish country or something? I challenge you to produce a single mainstream, nonreligious U.S. advertisement from the past decade regarding family planning that names "married" as a given.

[bzul.livejournal.com]

It's here! Your very own secret de-coitus ring!

[muggleangel.livejournal.com]

Love it.

[3cthelion.livejournal.com]

i'm assuming this is aimed at roman catholics, etc. who are discouraged from using contraceptives, hence the repeated reference to "church groups."

"foolproof" is probably a little extreme, but i've heard natural family planning can be pretty effective, if you are able to find a method that matches your cycle (or lack there-of, in some cases) and if you (and your spouse) can stick to it.

[kangariveroo.livejournal.com]

my first thought was "Vatican Roulette!"

[julia-sevin.livejournal.com]

Pretty effective, and the rules are simple. It's worked for me through seven years of marriage.

[murakozi.livejournal.com]

"It offers every modern marriage the opportunity to consider economic and health problems."

Unless of course the husband wants some action, then it's yer duty to say yes, lay back, and think of the Queen or something.

Obviously it's not for single women, since they shouldn't ever be having sex.

[janenx01.livejournal.com]

My God, it's like the Enigma machine.

[umiyuri.livejournal.com]

Maybe it was developed from the Enigma Machine.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

Not the smegma machine?

[creative-excess.livejournal.com]

Well, my good friend and her brother were both conceived while their mother was practicing the rhythm method...

[tudorlady.livejournal.com]

::snk:: My parents were Catholic (and by default so was I until adulthood), and I am an only child (born 1958). Many of my classmates came from families with more than four or five kids, and in one case, 13 kids. I always wondered why this was the case until I got older and realized it was because my parents absolutely couldn't stand each other.

[neuralclone.livejournal.com]

And it's "aprroved by Prof. Knaus and Dr. Ognio themselves"! :-) I've seen this ad in quite a few issues of The Australian Home Journal - I wonder how many of these gadgets were sold?

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

I remember reading an account of Spanish women who used the Ogino method and called the subsequent children their "oginitos".

[julia-sevin.livejournal.com]

Really? Hahaha! (at the moniker, of course, not at real unwanted pregnancy.)

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

I'm impressed by the "Swiss precision experts" in the first advert. That's a sure guarantee.

[becstar216.livejournal.com]

sooo, it's a calendar?

I owe my life to these...

[parkerbenchley.livejournal.com]

My parent's doctor gave them one of these fertility testers & planners. He said if it didn't work he'd buy the champagne for the christening.

And yes, he did.

[foxsong.livejournal.com]

I'd love to see the predictor that could keep up with my bizarrely timed cycles. They'd get a Nobel prize in medicine for that one! >;-)