A Century in Advertising - Part 6

A Century in Advertising - Part 6

My look at some of the advertisements and products of yesteryear. Some weird and whacky, some surprisingly still around today. Here are their stories.

1916 - Horlicks

Horlicks is a malted milk hot drink developed by founders James and William Horlick.

In the initial stage of manufacturing, milled malted barley and wheat flour are mashed together in hot water where the starch is converted into sugars. To this sugar solution dairy powders are added. The water content is then evaporated to form a syrup that is dried in vacuum band driers to form a cake. This cake is milled into the finished powder.

1869: William Horlick from Ruardean, Gloucestershire emigrated to the United States.

1873: James Horlick, a pharmacist, joined his brother, William, in the US and together they founded the company J & W Horlicks in Chicago to manufacture a patented malted milk drink as an artificial infant food.

1875: Business moved to larger premises at Racine, Wisconsin, with an abundant supply of spring water.

1883: US patent 278,967 granted to William for first malted milk drink mixing powder with hot water.

1909–1910: Horlicks became popular as a provision for North Pole and South Pole expeditions by Robert Peary, Roald Amundsen, and Robert Falcon Scott

1914: James made a baronet. World War I saw extensive use of Horlicks drink at home and at the front, as can be seen in this 1916 advertisement.

1917 - Reduce your Flesh

Jeanne Walter patented a rubber bandage in 1904. The following year she invented a two-piece rubber suit of undergarments designed to retain perspiration and heat for therapeutic purposes. By 1909 this had developed into a severe-looking full-body garment that was supposed to compress all your extra flesh down into a svelte figure

Walter’s range grew to include specialised garments for different parts of the body – a brassiere to reduce large busts, leg wraps to create slender ankles and a beer-gut minimiser for men. Those with a double chin could try the Chin and Neck Reducer, to be worn for a few hours daily in the privacy of one’s own home.

Walter’s 1909 patent presented the garments simply as foundation wear for holding in the flesh, but later advertising also capitalised on the sweatiness of the rubber and claimed that this would actively result in weight loss.

1918 - Men's Underwear

Long underwear, also called long johns or thermal underwear, is a style of two-piece underwear with long legs and long sleeves that is normally worn during cold weather. It is commonly worn by people under their clothes in cold countries.

Long johns were first introduced into England in the 17th century, but they did not become popular as sleepwear until the 18th century. They were supposedly called long johns after a famous knife fighter who fought in long underwear. They were first used as loungewear but then later became popular as sleepwear.

As this 1918 advertisement from Harrods shows, in an age without central heating systems, they were popular as much among the richer as the poorer classes, although of course posh long-johns would be made of silk.