The idea for a tampon which could be inserted without a separate applicator was initiated in 1947 by the German auto engineer
Carl Hahn and the lawyer Heinz Mittag. They wanted to introduce tampons to the German market, but the cardboard used for the applicator in the American tampon product
Tampax, which at the time dominated the market, was unavailable in post-war Germany. Hahn and Mittag approached Karl Julius Anselmino, director of the Landesfrauenklinik women's hospital in
Wuppertal for advice on its design and development. He told them that the job required a woman and recommended the young gynecologist
Judith Esser. Esser's finished design went into production in Wuppertal in March 1950. By 2010 the Wuppertal plant had become the largest tampon factory in the world and was exporting to over 30 countries. In 1974
Johnson & Johnson took over Hahn's company and two years later introduced o.b. tampons to the American market with an $8 million advertising campaign on television and radio. Esser herself appeared in some of the later American television commercials. Johnson & Johnson introduced o.b. tampons in China in 1993, and as of 2016 they were still the only brand of tampon sold in Chinese stores. In 2013 the o.b. brand in the United States was acquired from Johnson & Johnson by Edgewell Personal Care. Kenvue (the former subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health) remains the brand owner internationally. ==Product line==