overall: 13.7 cm x 9.5 cm x 1.5 cm; 5 13/32 in x 3 3/4 in x 19/32 in
overall, as stored: 7/8 in x 3 7/8 in x 5 5/8 in; 2.2225 cm x 9.8425 cm x 14.2875 cm
Object Name:
contraceptive, oral
Other Terms:
Contraceptives
Place made:
United States: New Jersey, Raritan
Date made:
1981-1984
Product expiration date:
1984-04
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.
The Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation of Raritan, New Jersey, produced this Micronor brand oral contraceptive around 1978. This monthly prescription of 28 pills are contained in Ortho’s trademarked DialPak dispenser. The DialPak, introduced in 1963, was the first oral contraceptive package to incorporate a “memory aid,” and Ortho advertised it as “the package that remembers for her.”
