100 years ago

Considered by some to be the single greatest marketing campaign ever, The Great Underarm Campaign was launched in 1915 to convince American women to shave their armpits.

     The initial ads featured a woman in a sleeveless toga-style dress reaching skyward. The first part of the ad read: "Summer Dress and Modern Dancing combine to make necessary the removal of objectionable hair."
The ad went on to introduce a depilatory powder, but this would soon grow into an entire industry for women's razors, gels and accessories. Since a passing fashion for sleeveless dresses spurred the initial underarm campaign, companies tried it again when hemlines started rising. Such is the power of fashion that underarm and leg shaving were commonplace within a matter of years.

     Much of the material above is from a scholarly article you can see here.