Ovocon-35 Oral Contraceptive
Ovocon-35 Oral Contraceptive
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- Description (Brief)
- 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.
- Mead Johnson & Company of Evansville, Indiana, produced this Ovocon-35 brand oral contraceptive in 1978. The packaging consists of a white pouch decorated with a purple flower. The 28-pill regimen is in a cardboard blister pack, divided into four rows of seven. To maintain the routine of taking a daily pill, many manufacturers began including a fourth week of inert pills. Ovocon included a fourth week of seven green tablets that were inert. A booklet entitled “Information about the Pill” was included with this oral contraceptive starter pack.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- contraceptive, oral
- date made
- 1978
- maker
- Mead Johnson and Company
- place made
- United States: Indiana, Evansville
- Physical Description
- norethindrone, 0.4 mg (drug active ingredients)
- ethinyl estradiol, 0.035 mg (drug active ingredients)
- paper (packaging material)
- plastic (packaging material)
- Measurements
- overall: 14 cm x 10.3 cm x.3 cm; 5 1/2 in x 4 1/16 in x 1/8 in
- overall: 3/8 in x 5 1/2 in x 4 1/8 in;.9525 cm x 13.97 cm x 10.4775 cm
- ID Number
- 1981.0760.045
- accession number
- 1981.0760
- catalog number
- 1981.0760.045
- Credit Line
- Gift of Gladys Abell and Lester D. Johnson, Jr., M.D.
- subject
- Birth Control/Contraception
- Women's Health
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Medicine
- Birth Control
- Health & Medicine
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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