The popularity of “the Pill” created a new market for pharmaceutical companies. For the first time, healthy women would be taking medication for an extended period of time. Pill manufacturers developed unique packaging in order to distinguish their product from those of their competitors and build brand loyalty. Packaging design often incorporated a “memory aid” to assist women in tracking their daily pill regimen, as well as styled cases to allow pills to be discreetly carried in bags and purses. The National Museum of American History’s Division of Medicine and Science’s collection of oral contraceptives illustrates some of the changes that the packaging and marketing of the Pill underwent from its inception in 1960 to the present.
G. D. Searle and Company of Chicago, Illinois, produced this Enovid-E 21 brand oral contraceptive around 1975. This 21-pill blister pack is in Searle’s trademarked Compack plastic case. The gold-foil blister pack organizes the monthly dosage into three weekly rows, with each column labeled for the day of the week. The pack includes a pamphlet directing patients on proper usage.
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