During the Depression, the birth control industry grew rapidly in the United States. Notwithstanding legal restrictions and the American Medical Association's ban on medically dispensed birth control, pharmaceutical firms, rubber manufacturers, mail-order houses, and fly-by-night peddlers were successful in their attempts to persuade women to eschew natural fertility control methods for commercial devices whose efficacy, women were assured, could be "scientifically proven." Through subtle and misleading advertising, prospective women consumers were encouraged to put their faith and dollars in feminine hygiene products that were both ineffective and often dangerous. This article explores the social dynamics that fuelled the industry's success, paying particular attention to the gendered aspects of contraceptive marketing vital to the creation of a pool of "contraceptive consumers."