Kleenex is the rare brand whose name has become the generic term for the product itself. The product in this case is facial tissue. Following World War I (1914–18), the Kimberly-Clark paper company was burdened with a huge surplus of a product called Cellucotton, a thin cotton-based tissue that had been used to dress wounds and line gas masks. The company made a thinner version of its product for women to use to remove makeup. Kimberly-Clark named its product Kleenex and introduced it in 1924.

No sooner was Kleenex introduced in the early 1920s as a makeup remover than consumers found new uses for the soft, disposable tissue. Eager to avoid carrying soiled handkerchiefs, men and women used Kleenex to blow their noses—and then simply threw the soiled Kleenex away. In 1927, advertisements began to promote the product for blowing the nose. In 1928, the popular pop-up box that released one...