Kleenex Commercial 2002

 Kleenex began during the First World War. It developed a crepe paper used as a filter for gas masks. In the early 1920s, it was adapted as a consumer product called Kotex brand to help women with their periods. The Kotex trademark was derived from the combination of the words "cotton" and "texture." The company itself has confirmed that this name was chosen as it "met [their] requirements for being short, easy to say, easy to pay and easy to explain." In 1924, the name Kleenex was selected as the name for a line of cold cream remover, as such, the "Kleen" portion of the name denotes its cleansing purpose. The "ex" was added to show that Kleenex was of the family of products that included Kotex. The first Western facial tissue was introduced in 1924 and originally marketed as a way to remove cold cream (it had already been in use in Japan for centuries; see History of facial tissue for details). It was a disposable substitute for face towels or cotton wool. In 1925, the first Kleenex tissue ad was used in magazines showing "the new secret of keeping a pretty skin as used by famous movie stars." A few years after the introduction of Kleenex, the company's head researcher tried to persuade the head of advertising to try to market the tissue for colds and hay fever. The administrator declined the idea but then committed a small amount of ad space to mention of using Kleenex tissue as a handkerchief. By the 1930s, Kleenex was being marketed with the slogan "Don’t Carry a Cold in Your Pocket" and its use as a disposable handkerchief replacement became predominant. In 1943, Kleenex began licensing the Little Lulu cartoon character to popularize the brand.