As many of you know, I find a lot of cool stuff as I peruse 19th century newspapers. Usually the items aren’t relevant to what I’m trying to find out, but I like to tuck them away to share with you! Hope you get a kick out of these, as you imagine yourself in the position of a 19th century consumer in need of a health cure.
Testimonials can go a long way:
Look at that woman…I mean, “the Queen of Beautiful Women.” Not a wrinkle on her. A ringing endorsement if I ever saw one.
Then there’s the fact that beer has malt, so it must be healthy…who knew? So that’s why hubby drinks it. Never mind the now-trendy pomegranate, acai, and goji berry juices…pull some Buds out of the fridge, honey! 😉
But if beer isn’t to your liking, you could always try this:
I wonder what other ingredients are in a bottle of celery compound? Perhaps…gasp…alcohol? I don’t know about you, but Mrs. Cummings looks like she could use a third bottle of celery. I don’t think she’s feeling like “another woman” yet.
And why is it that I keep running into celery in my 19th century researches? If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out my post on Kalamazoo celery.
Perhaps you want to avoid ingesting questionable substances completely. How about this:
You wear it when you sleep? Oh, right, nothing can go wrong there. Do I smell burnt hair…?
What if nothing works, and you’re still sick? Maybe it’s where you live:
Isn’t it reassuring to know that malaria has been cured on Staten Island? Sign me up.
What’s the funniest ad you’ve run across? Do you know of any neighborhoods that could use a good fumigation? I’d love to hear from you.
Until next time,
Kathy
P.S. – all pics are taken from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, and are public domain.
Oh man, that belt thingey looks like a torture device. Drugs may not work, or so they say, but I’m willing to try them in lieu of that “miracle” belt. Wow.
Interesting how advertising really hasn’t changed that much over the years. Products come and go, but the same old “buy me” lines have endured.
As always, thanks for sharing.
Patricia Rickrode
w/a Jansen Schmidt
We’ve certainly had our share of weird devices in the 20-21st centuries, Patricia! But I agree, that belt looks just too wacko for me… So glad you could stop by!
Fun post, K.B. I don’t think we’ve changed much as consumers. Just the other day on the news there was a report on the number of people swearing they needed gluten-free diets who couldn’t say what gluten was!
Really? Wow. Talk about a bandwagon, Vinnie!
Love the blog and the ads. I have a book called the Great American Medicine Show by David Armstrong & Elizabeth Metzger Armstorng that I love. It has a lot of these ads and is sort of history of good and bad medicine. Very fun. Thanks for sharing your stuff. I always enjoy it.
Sharla Rae, I’ve heard of that book but never read it…at least these days they have to list the ingredients in medicines…still caveat emptor. Thanks for the visit! 🙂
You know, it kind of makes me think that all the crazy things people do today don’t seem so weird in comparison. Kale smoothies and coconut butter facials are just the new celery compound. I don’t think I’d have been trendy in the 1900’s either. 🙂
LOL, Emma, great point! …celery, kale…if it’s green, I’m not drinking it. 😉
Good one Kathy. Here’s what scares me. Okay, we know there were a gazillion remedies at the turn of the twentieth century. Yeah, they had their claims, people tried them, but they really didn’t know exactly what they were taking. Now today, we have commercials that tell us about the ailment, what the remedy is for, and…all the numerous side affects from taking the drug. And some of them are insane. I’d rather wet my panties, IYKWIM? So I don’t know what is worse. 🙂
I try not to have the t.v. on while I’m making dinner; that seems to be prime time for drug commercials. And not drugs for your garden-variety headache or high blood pressure problems, oh no…now we have to hear about health issues in folks’ nether regions…GACK. 🙁