Kotex, Kleenex, and Huggies: Kimberly-Clark and the Consumer Revolution (review)

This book is an examination of the financial, technological, environmental, and business practices of the Kimberly-Clark Corporation from its founding as a paper mill in 1872 to its acquisition of rival Scott Paper in 1995. It provides a wealth of information about paper production, technology, and innovation, accompanied by an astute analysis of the firm's business successes and failures over time. Thomas Heinrich and Bob Batchelor had full access to company archives, perhaps in part because Batchelor had previously been commissioned to write the corporate history of Kimberly-Clark, and they do a remarkable job of weaving together many historical strands to craft a tale of interest to many readers of Technology and Culture.

Kimberly-Clark, founded by five businessmen in Neenah, Wisconsin, had become one of the industry's most significant operations by the turn of the twentieth century. Paper mills traditionally took rags, processed them into pulp, and produced paper from the pulp. Kimberly-Clark started out this way but, recognizing and then furthering papermaking innovations, began to mix rags with wood and then moved toward wood-based paper production in 1878. Surprisingly, the company's base in the Midwest proved advantageous: it had plentiful supplies of fresh water and sufficient open space for the enormous mills that the company would build.

This book includes detailed descriptions of the production of various kinds of pulps and papers, the changing chemical compositions of pulps and bleaches, and the ways in which competition fostered various kinds of technological experimentation. But the title suggests a focus on three products, Kotex, Kleenex, and Huggies, and indeed each receives its due.

Scholars have examined the history of Kotex advertising, but this is the first comprehensive exploration of the sanitary napkin's history. During World War I, Kimberly-Clark developed a by-product of papermaking, which it called Cellucotton, as a substitute for cotton-based surgical dressings. Postwar innovations resulted in its development into Kotex. Unrelenting product development accompanied by culturally sensitive marketing ensured that the trade name quickly became synonymous with the sanitary napkin. It also provided an important means, through diversification, of keeping the company afloat during the Great Depression. Heinrich and Batchelor provide a thorough analysis of the ups and downs of feminine-care products, including Kimberly-Clark's failure to break into the tampon market because of insufficient investment in this core product area. By the 1960s, tampon sales had tripled and sanitary napkin sales flattened.

But another product that was developed in Kimberly-Clark labs from Cellucotton helped solidify the company's presence in consumer nondurables. This was Kleenex, initially marketed as a cold-cream remover in response to the enormous growth in sales of women's cosmetics in the 1920s. After 1930, Kleenex marketing shifted when surveys indicated that consumers preferred it as a tissue to wipe their noses. Kimberly-Clark's commitment to continued research, combined with the marketing lessons learned with Kotex, helped ensure that Kleenex would be "a virtual synonym for disposable handkerchiefs in the American consumer lexicon, where it has remained firmly entrenched until the present day" (p. 84).

The Huggies story is perhaps the most impressive in terms of business strategy. As had happened with Kimberly-Clark's Kotex and Kleenex, a Procter & Gamble product called Pampers had become a generic for "disposable diapers." And because of their bulk, it was difficult for any competitors to get space on supermarket shelves. The disposable diaper market appeared, well, impermeable. Yet Kimberly-Clark executives realized that disposable diapers were among the most profitable consumer nondurables, that consumers were not entirely happy with Pampers, and that the company's research and development capabilities remained strong. By 1988, consumers had turned to Huggies and the brand name had replaced Pampers in the public mind. Learning from its past failures and following up on the success of Huggies, the firm invested twelve million dollars in product development for Pull-Ups, the "toddler...