Band-Aid is the brand name for adhesive bandages sold by Johnson & Johnson.
In 1920, a young, recently married housewife named Josephine Dickson was living in New Brunswick, NJ with her husband Earle - a cotton buyer with Johnson & Johnson. Josephine was an able housewife, but her home duties came with much pain; Pain in the form of cuts, burns, and scrapes. Earle came up with the idea of cutting up cotton gauze and applying it to adhesive tape to create an adhesive bandage. Josephine was extremely clumsy, and the need for the bandages grew. Earle eventually sat down and created a large, continuous strip of the bandages by placing cuts of gauze at regular intervals, and coated them with crinoline to keep them sterile. Next time Josephine needed to bandage a wound, she would need only to cut off one of the bandages - kind of like a roll of tape.
Earle mentioned his invention in passing to his boss at work, and the company took an interest in the idea. By 1921, The BAND-AID brand (thought up by Mill Superintendant W. Johnson Kenyon) made its first appearance on the market, and Earle Dickson was promoted to Vice President. At that time, Band-Aid bandages were made by hand and didn't catch on very well. Sales came to a total of $3000 for the first year. Three years later, Johnson & Johnson introduced the first machine-made, completely sterile adhesive bandages to a better-receiving market.
Further advances in Band-Aid technology (heh) continued to show themselves. Plastic strips were introduced in 1951, and decorated strips began appearing 5 years later.
Several different celebrities have promoted the Band-Aid brand, including Brooke Shields, Terri Garr, John Travolta, and Chris Evert.
In 1957, the Band-Aid manufacturing plant was built in the hometown of Josephine and Earle Dickson - New Brunswick, NJ, where Band-Aids continue to be manufactured.