February 14, 2002

4:10 PM

Kate, bad breath cramps any girls style! This and a ton of other great Medical oriented advertising from the 1910's to 1940's can be found at the Medicine and Madison Avenue Project. How is it that with all of our 21st century technology we've lost something as crucial as Gardol?
posted by willnot (18 comments total)

And, employers don't forget to make sure your washrooms are Health Zones not Germ Exchanges.

I can see the apeal of freshening up before leaving work, but did they really take it this far back in the day?
posted by willnot at 4:30 PM on February 14, 2002

Patriotism + hype = one damn good bug ad
posted by mathowie at 4:40 PM on February 14, 2002

I'm bummed there isn't the "DDT is good for you and me!" ad a friend used to have up in his Microbiology Lab, but this one is good too: DDT - the wonder chemical!
posted by mathowie at 4:45 PM on February 14, 2002

Also great: the Big D.
posted by mathowie at 4:48 PM on February 14, 2002

great freekin' link... thank you
posted by machaus at 4:55 PM on February 14, 2002

"you pulled a boner, man!"
posted by mathowie at 5:00 PM on February 14, 2002

i remember seeing an advertisment by Bayer for HEROIN. circa 1900's. used for coughs. There are some good books on this subject and people like Rothstein who bought alot of euro pharmos and sold them in u.s.
posted by clavdivs at 5:00 PM on February 14, 2002

Soap is a tool of peace and a weapon of war.
posted by willnot at 5:16 PM on February 14, 2002

Heroin - the sedative for coughs from Bayer.
posted by liam at 5:17 PM on February 14, 2002

Heroin - the cheapest specific for the relief of coughs from Bayer (1901).
posted by liam at 5:23 PM on February 14, 2002

Metafilter had-enough administrator at home.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 5:31 PM on February 14, 2002

Ladies and gentlemen: the link that blew Matt Haughey's mind.
posted by owillis at 5:34 PM on February 14, 2002

I want gaiety, love, friends... and you shall have them!
posted by Neale at 5:44 PM on February 14, 2002

This is an amazing link, thanks willnot!

But girls, if you're feeling left out wondering where all those feminine hygeine product ads are, you can find them at the Museum of Menstruation, including ads touting Lysol as a, um, "freshener".
posted by kittyloop at 6:02 PM on February 14, 2002

There's a ridiculous idea that because Listerine apparently created the term halitosis, that they "invented" cognizance of bad breath. Many bpeople believe this with dimwitted literalism. A more honest appraisal suggests that Listerine's advertising gurus played on pre-existing conventions, especially after they were forced to abandon most medical claims for the product.
posted by dhartung at 6:29 PM on February 14, 2002

Soap is a tool of peace and a weapon of war.

OK, I've got three truckloads of Camay and a map of Iraq! Who's got a plane?
posted by jonmc at 6:38 PM on February 14, 2002

Are you going to drop the soap?
posted by euphorb at 10:47 PM on February 14, 2002

Fantastic link. I used to be an historian, which meant that among other things I did my bit ruining my eyesight in front of microfilm readers, going through early twentieth-century newspapers for my research. Which brings me to this point:

All the diet-related ads on this site deal with weight loss, yet I remember seeing a lot of ads which offered products to help you gain weight. Which, I thought at the time, said a lot about how our concept of the ideal body type has changed over time. But you don't get that here.
posted by mcwetboy at 11:55 AM on February 15, 2002