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.
The Syntex Corporation of Humacoa, Puerto Rico, manufactured this Norinyl 1+35 brand oral contraceptive around 1984. The silver blister pack is contained inside a plastic compact case. The compact case features a cameo image of a woman’s profile. The 28-pill monthly dosage was arranged in four weekly rows of 7 pills, numbered from 1 to 28. The first 21 hormonal pills are green, and the last 7 inert pills are orange. The compact contains a small insert describing usage and warnings against smoking while taking oral contraceptives.
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