A Century in Advertising - Part 14

A Century in Advertising - Part 14

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

1939 - Television Set

Andrea Radio Corporation was started in 1934 by Mr. Frank A. D'Andrea. The company sold radios in the early days, and also offered pre-war television kits and factory assembled models. Imagine assembling your own TV!

The Andrea Radio Corporation was a leader in radio production in the 1930’s and displayed one of the first television sets at the 1939 World Fair. The Company was known for producing the “Cadillac of Televisions” in the 1950’s and flew into space providing the audio intercom system for the Mercury space capsules in the early 1960’s.

1940 - Phosferine

Estelle Hargraves has this comment:

"In line with standard “cure-all” advertising, Phosferine is claimed to help with a list of ailments as long as your arm – depression, headache, indigestion, brain fag, neuralgia, sleeplessness, influenza, rheumatism, sciatica, anaemia, debility and neurasthenia. Because all those things have the same treatment, of course. I thought 'Brain fag' was one of those diagnoses that didn’t exist anymore, like hysteria and brain fever, but apparently it’s a thing in Nigeria now, suffered by overworked students."

"The British Medical Journal was on the case of anything calling itself a “secret remedy”, and was looking at the composition of this and other tonics back in 1911. It analysed it and found it to be mainly water, alcohol, quinine and phosphoric acid. And a bit of sulphuric acid thrown in as well – I’m not a chemist, but that’s not good as an ingredient, is it?"

1941 - Colgate

Colgate is an umbrella brand principally used to sell oral hygiene products such as toothpastes, toothbrushes, mouthwashes and dental floss. Manufactured by the American consumer-goods conglomerate Colgate-Palmolive, Colgate oral hygiene products were first sold by the company in 1873, sixteen years after the death of the founder, William Colgate. The company originally sold soap.

Colgate was the first toothpaste in a collapsible tube, introduced in 1896 in New York City. It had been sold in glass jars since 1873

In 2007, the Advertising Standards Authority in the UK told Colgate that it could no longer make the claim that 4 out of 5 dentists recommended Colgate. Investigation had showed that the study had telephone surveyed dentists to list toothpastes they recommended, and their competitors were recommended at similar rates. The claim was deemed deceptive

Regarding the advert pictured, bad breath wasn’t perceived as a medical condition until one company realized that it could help them sell mouthwash - Listerine. But other companies, like Colgate also realised they could also offer a remedy to the emerging middle classes to cater to this social anxieties with minty toothpaste.

As Rachel Weingarten, noted: "the idea that mint equals freshness is more of an illusion than anything else. It's a triumph of advertising."

Links
http://skittishlibrary.co.uk/phosferine-tonic-1940

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/marketing-campaign-invented-halitosis-180954082
https://www.vox.com/2014/12/1/7309499/mint-fresh-breath

A Century in Advertising - Part 13

A Century in Advertising - Part 13

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

1936 - Heinz

Paying homage to the League of Nations might not have been the smartest marketing move, but Heinz actually supported the British war effort when war broke out, long before America officially joined the war.

The website notes that:

"Since 1926, Heinz Spaghetti has been enjoyed, more often than not on toast, by many different generations of Britons. It is made from Durum wheat pasta and juicy, tomato sauce."

The H. J. Heinz Company, or Heinz, is an American food processing company with world headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Henry John Heinz in 1869. A British subsidiary was established to manage Heinz imports from America in 1886.

Between 1919 and 1927, Heinz UK sales quadrupled. A 22 acre factory site was opened in Harlesden, London in 1925. It increased the total number of employees at Heinz UK from 500 to 1,000. The larger factory allowed Heinz to mass produce, and pass on the economies of scale to the consumer. By 1935 the site covered 40 acres and was one of the largest and up-to-date factories in England.

In 1939, Howard Heinz, the company president, donated £20,000 (£1.2 million) to buy aircraft for the British war effort. He also invited his staff to send their children to America for the duration of the war at the company’s expense.

1937 - Ironized Yeast

As Tamara Abraham noted, the prediliction for "skinny" women did not exist back in the 1930s:

"These ads, published in magazines and newspapers from the Thirties to the Sixties show how weight gain was aspired to then as earnestly as we today aspire to weight loss. Demonstrating an attitude that could not be more far removed from the current vogue for size zero, the ads promote supplements promising speedy weight gain for a sexier body."

"One, promising 'an easy way to add 5-15lb' even features a man, gazing at a reclining woman. The text alongside reads: 'A skinny woman hasn't a chance. I wish I could gain flesh.'"

Ironized yeast was targeted at skinny women who wanted to put on weight. It was claimed that the Ironized Yeast tablet would help women put on 10 to 25 pounds in only a few weeks. A picture of a smiling curvy woman is juxtaposed here against a cartoon slimmer woman, presenting the former as the ideal.

Ironized yeast was actually known as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, or brewer's yeast, and was frequently used as a B-vitamin supplement for people following a strict vegan diet. It provides a spectrum of nutritional compounds and has a reputation for facilitating weight gain. But "brewer's yeast" would hardly sell as a weight supplement so it was rebranded!

1938 - Parker Pen

The Parker Pen Company is a manufacturer of luxury pens, founded in 1888 by George Safford Parker in Janesville, Wisconsin, United States.

 From the 1920s to the 1960s, before the development of the ballpoint pen, Parker was either number one or number two in worldwide writing instrument sales. In 1931 Parker created Quink (quick drying ink), which eliminated the need for blotting. In 1941 the company developed the most widely used model of fountain pen in history (over $400 million worth of sales in its 30-year history), the Parker 51.

With commercial competition increasing upon the Parker jotter's classic metal ink refill cartridge design from low cost generic copies produced in China, as Parker's unique design patent for the cartridge expired, Parker's sales began to be drastically adversely affected.

In 2011 the Parker factory at Newhaven, East Sussex, England, was closed, and its production transferred to Nantes, France

The following month, Newell Rubbermaid Inc. announced that the factory in Janesville, Wisconsin, was also to close the remaining operation there producing Parker Pens (which eliminated a further 153 manufacturing jobs)

Parker also altered its traditional product warranty on its high end pens, changing the former lifetime guarantee to a two-year warranty limitation.

It is small wonder that it has ended as a gift "throwaway" item by Michael Parkinson for a "too good to be true" life insurance, as if it still somehow has that luxury edge, when only the very old still set store by ink fountain pens. As a commentator said: "It's such a sad descent, it really and truly is."

But my favourite comment is this:

"Parker pens are so commonplace that they now have less value financially, morally and existentially than anything else in the world. A Parker pen is quite significantly inferior to a cheap supermarket biro that runs out of ink after writing five words and even writing with a finger on a dusty surface is a more pleasant experience than a Parker pen. Nothing on earth is more insipidly anomic than a Parker pen. The only good reason I can think of for offering them to life insurance clients is that they prepare an individual for the eternal monotony of death"

References
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/savings/9266217/Martin-Lewis-the-over-50s-plans-with-a-hitch.html

A Century in Advertising - Part 12

A Century in Advertising - Part 12

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

1933 - ACME Beer

When I think of ACME, I always think of that fake company which sells gadgets to Wile E Coyote in his elaborate attempt to catch the Road Runner. But in fact there really was an ACME company producing beer.

The Acme Brewery of San Francisco was established in 1907 by Leopold Schmidt, owner of the Olympia Brewing Company of Tumwater

The aftermath of the April 18, 1906, fire and earthquake left San Francisco with few operating breweries, and a beer shortage soon followed. A $1,000,000 order was then placed with Schmidt's Bellingham Bay Brewery for beer to be shipped to the city. His Olympia Beer Company had been spared from the catastrophe and production had already ramped up at its Tumwater plant in order to meet the higher demand. Schmidt seized this opportunity for capturing market share, and set out to build his own brewery there in the City.

To oversee this new construction project Schmidt called upon William Schuldt, who was in management at his Oregon plant, the Salem Brewery Ass'n. In addition to Schuldt, a brewer that had recently joined the Salem organization, J.P. Rettenmayer, also went to SF. There the two men supervised the $100,000 plant project, and became principals in the new company.

The Acme Brewery was incorporated on April 11, 1907, with Leopold F. Schmidt, president; William Schuldt, secretary and manager; and Jacob P. Rettenmayer, treasurer. J.P. was also Acme's first brewmaster.

Acme issued numerous advertising pieces in the '30s & '40s, however very few items have survived from the 13 year period prior to Prohibition. Beer was outlawed along with other alcoholic drinks. The ACME company turned to other products, and it is at this time I like to think they manufactured fantastic gadgets for the coyote!

The ad shown above is one of the ads that set the whole west coast talking about Acme, weeks before Prohibition was ended, on April 7, 1933.

1934 - Electric Perm

This closely resembles something from James Whale's Bride of Frankenstein.

From the photo essay on 'Permanent Waves' "The hair above has been wet with alkaline solution wound tight around rods then covered with electrically-heated clamps. The solution opens the hairs sealy surface permitting steam produced by hot clamps on damp hair to penetrate the cells."

The technology at the time was not always successful. One report says this of the electric perm:

“A little girl I know emerged from a $5.00 permanent with a head that resembled that of a native of the Congo. Fortunately, she was supremely satisfied and just child enough for its tousled outline not to prove unbecoming. But the tragedy it might have been if it had chanced to alight on an older and more serious head as it might very easily have done ! And that is why I strongly urge a preliminary test.”

1935 - Butlins

Butlins (also Butlin's) is a chain of large holiday camps in the United Kingdom. Butlins was founded by Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families.

Billy Butlin's inspiration for his holiday camp empire came from an unhappy holiday on Barry Island in his youth, when he had been locked out of his bed and breakfast accommodation all day by his landlady, which was normal practice at the time.

Between 1936 and 1966, ten camps were built, including one in Ireland and one in the Bahamas. In the 1970s and 1980s, Butlins also operated numerous large hotels, including one in Spain, a number of smaller holiday parks in England and France, and a revolving restaurant in the Post Office Tower in London.

The holiday camp at Portelet in Jersey was founded by Nigel Oxenden, and passed to his daughter, Joy, who eventually sold it to holiday camp magnate Sir Billy Butlin. However, it never became an official part of the Butlin holiday camp chain.

Sources:

http://www.brewerygems.com/acme.htm

http://www.1920-30.com/fashion/hairstyles/permanent-wave.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butlins

https://www.theislandwiki.org/index.php/Portelet_Holiday_Camp

A Century in Advertising - Part 11

A Century in Advertising - Part 11

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

1930 - PEP Vitamins

Pep was a brand of whole-wheat breakfast cereal produced by the Kellogg Company, and introduced in 1923. Pep was a long-running rival to Wheaties, and also the sponsor of Mutual Radio's The Adventures of Superman radio series. One of Pep's advertising slogans was "the Sunshine cereal".

The blogger Zim has this to say about the advert:

Often listed under “Sexist Ads of the Past,” this 1930s Kellogg’s PEP cereal advertisement sure does speak about time in which it was created. In 1938, the Kellogg’s Company introduced several new innovations including Kellogg’s PEP cereal. According to Kellogg’s, PEP was the “first cereal fortified with vitamins B and D through the ‘spray’ method, marking the beginning of the cereal industry’s food fortification processes.”

The two-part advertisement features a husband and wife who are depicted in a photograph and a smaller cartoon. The larger photograph shows the husband dressed in suit as if just returning from work. The women, clothed in traditional housewife attire (dress, heels, apron and feather duster), is embraced by her husband as he exclaims, “So the harder a wife works, the cuter she looks!”

1931 - Milky Way

The Milky Way bar is a chocolate-covered candy bar manufactured and distributed by the Mars confectionery company. The American version of the Milky Way bar is made of chocolate-malt nougat topped with caramel and covered with milk chocolate and sold as the Mars bar everywhere else.

Jeff Wells has this to say on the product:

It isn’t named after our galaxy!

The Milky Way bar is actually named after malted milk, a popular drink around the time it was first released, in 1923. Started as an infant formula in the late 1800s, malted milk was prized for its taste and reputed health qualities, and became a key ingredient in the malted milkshake, or “malt.” Eager to capitalize on its popularity, Milky Way’s early ads claimed the candy bar had “more malted milk content than a soda fountain double malted milk!”

To produce a giant candy bar for cheap, Mars filled his Milky Way with mostly nougat, which was (and pretty much still is) just eggs, sugar, and air. Over time, the company added in more caramel, and today Milky Way’s gooey, stringy caramel filling is a major selling point.

1932 - Filmo

Filmo is a series of 16-mm and 8-mm movie equipment made by the Bell & Howell Company. The line included cameras, projectors and accessories.

The Filmo camera series started with the 1923 Filmo 70, beginning a series of models built on the same basic body that was to continued for more than half a century. It was based on Bell & Howell's brilliantly designed 1917 prototype for a 17.5mm camera intended for amateur use.

All models had spring driven motors that had to be wound up using a crank or large key attached to the side. A fully wound camera would allow one to shoot for 35 to 40 seconds at 24fps

By 1983, Bell & Howell would be out of the photographic business entirely. The Filmo product line would be purchased by Alan Gordon Enterprises, one of the foremost dealers for the camera and moved to California.

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pep_(cereal)

http://www.historybyzim.com/2013/07/odd-ads-of-the-past-pep-vitamins/

http://mentalfloss.com/article/70206/10-gooey-facts-about-milky-way-bars

http://www.tfgtransfer.com/filmo.htm

A Century in Advertising - Part 10

A Century in Advertising - Part 10

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

1927 - Kodascope

Kodascope is a name created by Eastman Kodak Company for the projector it placed on the market in 1923 as part of the first 16mm motion picture equipment. The original Kodascope was part of an outfit that included the Cine-Kodak camera, tripod, Kodascope projector, projection screen, and film splicer, all of which sold together for $335

Kodascope Library, which operated from 1924 to 1939, and offered both educational and commercially released films on 16mm film and, from 1932, on 8mm film.

One of the great silent movies, “The Lost World” became a victim of its own popularity and the death of silent films. In the late 1920s when 16mm was introduced, 'Kodascope' digest versions were made of some popular silent films, for the home movie market. The Lost World was one of the first. The full version of Lost World was junked, and only recently pieced together from some Czech copies.




1928 - Aspironal

The website Nostrumopia comments:

Aspironal was a purported cold remedy manufactured by Aspironal Laboratories in Atlanta, Georgia, around the period of 1919 to 1921. The name obviously played on the name of Aspirin, as the medicine, which was a liquid solution, contained a solution of sodium salicylate and other ingredients. Salicylates are compounds from which aspirin is derived.

The advertisements for the medicine claimed it was "better than whiskey" for the treatment of colds or flu. Of course, although whiskey can provide some relief from the symptoms of a cold, it is not a cure, by any means. Neither are salicylates or any of the other ingredients in the Aspironal. Although the labels claimed that the solution contained 10% alcohol, it probably contained much more.

When federal prohibition tool place in 1920, some states had already enacted their own prohibition laws. Druggists and patent medicine makers took advantage of a loophole that allowed the sale of "medicinal Whiskey.”

You can imagine in what for this 'immediate relief' and 'quick warm-up' might come for a person in dire need of a drink! The dose instructions on the bottle were essentially to keep taking 1 teaspoonful until the desired effect. In other words, drink until you feel the desired buzz. Of course, they were careful to give the dose for children as drops.

For more information, see:
http://nostrumopia.blogspot.com/2014/11/aspironal-cold-remedy-better-than.html




1929 - Turtle Soup

Jack Hitt, on his blog, comments on this now rare delicacy:

I wanted to find out what had happened to turtle soup, which was among the most sought-after and popular dishes in all of American history. Accounts in the 18th and 19th centuries of massive parties known as “turtle frolics” suggest they were more popular than hog barbecues and oyster roasts, with descriptions of servants bearing three-foot-long upturned turtle shells filled with hot turtle stew for large crowds.

No early cookbook lacked a recipe for turtle, terrapin, or snapper stew—made from sea turtle, snapping turtle, box turtle, or diamondback terrapin, all of which, in Southern slang, became “cooter” in the pot. But some 50 years ago, turtle soup disappeared and, to most palates, now seems almost improbable verging on unacceptable. What happened?

For centuries, the flavor was legendary, and, really, nothing said American democracy like turtle. The poor man could often find a few slow-moving specimens hanging out at the backyard well, even as the privileged man sought out its refined flavor. Two days after voting for independence in Philadelphia, on July 4, 1776, John Adams celebrated with a bowl of turtle soup; when the war was over, George Washington met with his officers at Fraunces Tavern in lower Manhattan for a farewell frolic; and Lincoln celebrated his second inaugural with terrapin stew. Before Aaron Burr murdered Alexander Hamilton, both were members of the elite Hoboken Turtle Club.

The thing about an average turtle is that once cleaned, it will yield about three or four pounds of meat, so it's easy to see why it was once the workingman's meal. At any house with a well, there might be one or two turtles hanging out in the nearby puddles. I ran across accounts of people finding turtles here and there and tossing them into the water barrel at the well until there were enough to invite friends over for a frolic.

There was a big shift in tastes somewhere after World War I, Freedman told me. It's hard not to note the sheer variety of what was available before then, not just of turtle, but of all manner of meats.

Menus from that time routinely offered everything from roasted snipe and plover to rabbit hash, mutton cutlets, and oxtail. The decline of the family farm and the rise of mechanized factory farming, a process described as the “Eden Crash” in Christopher Leonard's Meat Racket, meant that by World War II, American taste for meat had bottlenecked into chicken, pork, and beef, all three of which could be grown, fed, quartered, and slaughtered according to the efficiency demands of Henry Ford's assembly-line theories. And I can testify that gutting and cleaning turtle is a big hassle and a poor candidate for any kind of industrial streamlining.

For more, see
https://www.saveur.com/history-of-turtle-soup-hunting

A Century in Advertising - Part 9

A Century in Advertising - Part 9

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

1925 - Hovis

Hovis Ltd is a British company that produces flour and bread. The brand originated in Macclesfield, Cheshire, in 1886, and became part of Rank Hovis McDougall (RHM) in 1962 after a succession of mergers. RHM, with its brands including Hovis and Mother's Pride, was acquired by Premier Foods in 2007.

The brand began in 1886; the Hovis process was patented on 6 October 1887[5] by Richard "Stoney" Smith (1836–1900), and S. Fitton & Sons Ltd developed the brand, milling the flour and selling it along with Hovis branded baking tins to other bakers.

The name was coined in 1890 by London student Herbert Grime in a national competition set by S. Fitton & Sons Ltd to find a trading name for their patent flour which was rich in wheat germ. Grime won £25 when he coined the word from the Latin phrase hominis vis – "the strength of man". The company became the Hovis Bread Flour Company Limited in 1898

When the abundance of certain B vitamins in wheatgerm was reported in 1924, Hovis increased in popularity!

1926 - The Hoover

Hoover is an American vacuum cleaner company that started out as an American floor care manufacturer based in North Canton, Ohio.

The first upright vacuum cleaner was invented in June 1908 by Canton, Ohio department store janitor and occasional inventor James Murray Spangler (1848–1915). Spangler was an asthmatic, and suspecting the carpet sweeper he was using at work was the cause of his ailment, he created a basic suction-sweeper by mounting an electric fan motor on a Bissell brand carpet sweeper then adding a soap box and a broom handle. After refining the design and obtaining a patent for the Electric Suction Sweeper he set about producing it himself, assisted by his son, who helped him assemble the machines, and his daughter, who assembled the dust bags. Production was slow, just two to three machines completed a week.

Spangler then gave one of his Electric Suction Sweepers to his cousin Susan Troxel Hoover (1846–1925), who used it at home. Impressed with the machine, she told her husband and son about it. William Henry "Boss" Hoover (August 18, 1849 – February 25, 1932) and son Herbert William Hoover Sr. (October 30, 1877 – September 16, 1954) were leather goods manufacturers in North Canton, Ohio, which at the time was called New Berlin.

Seeing a marketing opportunity, Hoover bought the patent from Spangler in 1908, founding the Electric Suction Sweeper Company with $36,000 capital, retaining Spangler as production supervisor with pay based on royalties in the new business. Spangler continued to contribute to the company, patenting numerous further Suction Sweeper designs until his death in 1915, when the company name was changed to the Hoover Suction Sweeper Company

It also established a major base in the United Kingdom and for most of the early-and-mid-20th century it dominated the electric vacuum cleaner industry, to the point where the "Hoover" brand name became synonymous with vacuum cleaners and vacuuming in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

1927 - Lucozade

"LUCOZADE-—Word mark. Wares: Non-alcoholic and carbonated beverages of all kinds and essences and syrups for making same. William Walker Hunter, trading as W. Owen & Son, 151, Barras Bridge, Newcastle-uponTyne, England. NS.

Lucozade is a soft drink manufactured by the Japanese company Suntory and marketed as a range of sports and energy drinks. Created as "Glucozade" in the UK in 1927 by a Newcastle pharmacist, William Walker Hunter (trading as W. Owen & Son),[a] it was acquired by the British pharmaceutical company Beecham's in 1938 and sold as an energy drink for the sick as Lucozade.

A glucose–water solution, the product was sold until 1983 as a carbonated, slightly orange-flavoured drink in a glass bottle wrapped in yellow cellophane. Pharmacists sold it, children were given it when ill, and hospital visitors would regularly arrive with a bottle.

"Dilly" (Poppadom Preach, 2011). "[Dr Johnson suspected that Egg had] picked up a bug of some sort. He said she needed plenty to drink, and suggested Lucozade. Suddenly I wished I was sick as well, because my friendship with Estie had given me a taste for Lucozade: the smell, the bright orange colour, the cellophane wrapping (which could later be used to make X-ray specs), the glugging as it left the bottle like a fizzy golden waterfall, the tiny bubbles jumping out of the glass and popping in the air."

"Adrian Mole" (The Lost Diaries of Adrian Mole, 1999–2001, 2009): "Personally I think it was a great mistake to provide hospital patients with bedside telephones. They give their long-suffering relations no peace with their incessant, peevish demands for Lucozade and boxes of tissues."

A Century in Advertising - Part 8

A Century in Advertising - Part 8

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

1922 - Coffee

Maxwell House is a brand of coffee manufactured by a like-named division of Kraft Heinz. Introduced in 1892 by wholesale grocer Joel Owsley Cheek (1852-1935), it was named in honor of the Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. For many years, until the late 1980s, it was the largest-selling coffee in the United States.

Legend has it that in 1907 President Teddy Roosevelt visited Maxwell House, the prestigious Nashville hotel and after finishing a cup of their namesake coffee, he declared it was, "good to the last drop." At least that is what Maxwell House Coffee Company advertised in 1920! While legends are romantic they are rarely accurate. Teddy Roosevelt did indeed visit the hotel and probably did have a cup of coffee but there is no evidence that he ever uttered those words. Still, legends are romantic and this one certainly sold a lot of coffee.

1923 - Shapely Ankles

ANKLE BEAUTE

A new and remarkable discovery, rapidly moulds to perfect proportions, ungainly ankles and legs.

ANKLE BEAUTE supersedes all reducing creams, salts, etc. Invaluable for strengthening weak ankles.

MADAME MONTAGUE, the inventor of this unique Ankle Culture System, will be pleased to send under plain cover a free copy of her dainty Brochure upon receipt of request to Room P.G. 4, 16, Cambridge Street, Belgravia, London, S.W.I

Despite attempts to find out, I can see no reference anywhere to what "Ankle Culture System" is, apart from one of a number of adverts making women feel inadequate - this time because of "thick and unattractive ankles".

1924 - Breathing and Chest Expansion

This invention - the "Psycho-Expander" - was developed to "master correct breathing" to "enlarge the chest to its full beauty."

As one commentator put it: “Trust advertisers to come up with a ‘genteel’ way of describing a product that may offend the prude but grab the gullible. Some things never change.”

It was actually patented – No 24425!

Liza Hicks sums this invention up wonderfully:

"Hucksters offered other ideas for getting full breasts. Why not inflate them like balloons? All you need is more breathing capacity, right—because your lungs are in your boobs? That's what the ads for the Breathing Balloon and Psycho-Expander suggest. If that doesn't work, there was always the Star Vibrator."

Anna Holmes says:

"We always thought the standard of beauty in the 1920s involved a waifish figure and cute-as-a-button breasts. But if this 1924 advertisement for the "Psycho-Expander" from Popular Mechanics is any indication, there was a significant subset of flapper-girls with dreams of both stardom and major rackitude."

A Century in Advertising - Part 7

A Century in Advertising - Part 7

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

1919 - Phonograph

The Edison Amberola DX internal horn phonograph was introduced in July, 1914 and only remained in production until December, 1914.  After that date, excess stock, as seen in the advert above, was flogged off to the public cheaply!

It was the last and best in a series of  Amberola "X" table top phonographs.  It is also the last belt-driven Amberola to be sold by Edison.  The Amberola DX was the only X Series model to have a Fireside spring motor.  Previous X Series Amberolas were fitted with noisy and underpowered GEM motors.

All Amberola X models were designed to play only 4-Minute plastic Blue Amberol cylinder records via a Diamond B reproducer.   The Diamond B bears down on the hard surface of the Blue Amberol records and it yields superior sound reproduction.

Even with a small internal horn, the Amberola DX sounds as loud as a phonograph with a large external morning glory horn and a smaller Model H saphire stylus reproducer.  The heavy floating weight allows the Diamond B reproducer to track well on out-of-round Blue Amberol records, so skipping and fluttering is usually not a problem.

Although the phonograph is called an "Amberola", the heavy Diamond B reproducer will destroy 4-Minute black wax Amberol records.

As a unique name for his new long-playing cylinders, Edison used the made-up word "Amberol" which derives from the expensive amber used at its core.

1920 - Baked Beans

Heinz Beanz were launched in 1901 as "Heinz Baked Beans" and were produced in the United States until 1928. In 1901, Heinz Baked Beans were first sold at the Fortnum & Mason department store in London.

After opening its first overseas office in London in 1896, the company opened its first UK factory in Peckham, south London, in 1905. This was followed by a second factory at Harlesden, north-west London in 1919. Production was started at a former munitions factory at Standish near Wigan in 1946. A new factory opened in Kitt Green, Wigan, in 1958.

Between 1941 and 1948, The Ministry of Food classified Heinz Baked Beans as an "essential food" as part of its wartime rationing system.

1921 - Massage Vibrators

Rachel Maines study “Vibration is Life!” Electromechanical Vibrators and Women Consumers, 1899-1930 has some interesting notes:

“Articles and textbooks on vibratory massage technique at the turn of this century praised the machine's versatility for treatment of nearly all diseases in both sexes, and its savings in the physician's time and labor, especially in gynecological massage.”

“In the first two decades of this century, the vibrator began to be marketed as a home appliance through advertising in such periodicals as Needlecraft, Home Needlework Journal, Modern Women, Hearst's, McClure's, Woman's Home Companion, and Modern Priscilla.  The device was marketed mainly to women as a health and relaxation aid, in ambiguous phrases such as "All the pleasures of youth ... will throb within you."”

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.

A Century in Advertising - Part 5

A Century in Advertising - Part 5

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

1913- Wrigley's Gum

The William Wrigley Jr. Company, known as the Wrigley Company, is an American chewing gum company founded on April 1, 1891, by William Wrigley Jr..It is currently the largest manufacturer and marketer of chewing gum in the world.

In 1892, Wrigley Jr. began packaging chewing gum with each can of baking powder. The chewing gum eventually became more popular than the baking powder and Wrigley's reoriented the company to produce the gum.

The company currently sells its products in more than 180 countries and districts, maintains operations in over 50 countries, and has 21 production facilities in 14 countries including the United States, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom, France, the Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, China, India, Japan, Kenya, Taiwan, and Australia.

1914 - Ambulance

Only a month before the First World War began, British Red Cross volunteers were in full training mode. Their first aid skills were improving by the day. They were learning all kinds of practical tasks that would come in handy, from fire safety at field hospitals to cooking for invalids. Whole communities joined in to help, both volunteering and fundraising – and even animals were made to do their bit.

Simmons and Co of 1, 3, 5, & 7 Tanner Street, London S.E.1 produced mostly prams, but also turned their hand to a hand-drawn ambulance for the Great War.

1915 - Travel Advert

This poster showing children at play in a spring landscape. This was a British propaganda advertisement showing how the war was beginning to impact on ordinary people's lives.

Before World War One people who could afford it enjoyed holidays, but during the war with every effort needed to win the war it became unpatriotic to take long holidays, though people still took day trips to the seaside or into the country if possible.

This poster from 1915 encouraged families to visit the countryside with the message: 'Why bother about the Germans invading the country? Invade it yourself by underground and motor-bus.'

A Century in Advertising - Part 4

A Century in Advertising - Part 4

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



1910 - Tomato Ketchup

First introduced in 1876, Heinz Tomato Ketchup remains the best selling brand of ketchup. From 1906 it was produced without preservatives.

In 1907, Heinz started producing 13 million bottles of ketchup per year, exporting ketchup all over the world, including India, Australia, South America, Japan, Indonesia, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom.

The "57" mark arises from an advertising statement that Heinz made "57 Varieties" of products. When Henry J. Heinz introduced the "57 Varieties" slogan, however, the company already made at least 60 products. The number is simply the combination of numbers Heinz and his wife considered "lucky".



1911- Refrigerators

Most iceboxes looked like plain wooden cabinets in the early 1900s. Without electric refrigeration, they were fitted inside with a space for ice, which had to be topped up regularly to keep food cool and fresh.

The White Frost Refrigerator was the only cylinder-shaped icebox. A block of ice sat in a compartment under the lid and chilled air was vented into the food storage space below. The makers said their distinctive model was:

• More hygienic – easy-clean curved enamelled steel, food always in perfect condition
• More scientific – better design, better insulated, economical with ice, revolving shelves
• Desirable yet affordable – stylish, special, above-average price payable in instalments

Of course the advertisers wanted to appeal to women, but they also needed to persuade men. An ad in Popular Mechanics showed “Bob” and his wife in icebox-inspired closeness.

Revolving refrigerators definitely need to make a comeback.




1912 -Titanic

This was the advertising placard for the Titanic.

There are many Titanic stories, but here is one recent one.

In 2015, a silver-and-bronze plaque from the iconic sunken ship was identified in the Spanish city of Granada after more than a century adrift.

The plaque, which measured in at 11 by 14.5 inches and weighs 4lbs,was inscribed with the grand ship's name, directly below the moniker 'Queen of the Ocean'. It also carried the date of the Titanic's doomed departure from Southampton to New York: April 10, 1912.

Its discovery can be traced back 12 years, when a British man in need of cash sold it to an art dealer in Barcelona, according to the Spanish Titanic Foundation, which now possesses the plaque.

It's thought that the commemorative plaque was handed to Lord William James Pirrie, chairman of the shipbuilder which built Titanic, by the head of the Royal Mail Steamship Union the day before the ship's departure.

Lord Pirrie had held it in his office, but nothing is known about where the plaque was between then - in 1912 - and its redisovery in 2003.

A Century in Advertising - Part 3

A Century in Advertising - Part 3

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

1907 - Corn Flakes

Corn flakes, or cornflakes, are a popular breakfast cereal made by toasting flakes of corn. The cereal was first created by John Harvey Kellogg in 1894 as a food that he thought would be healthy for the patients of the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan where he was superintendent. He saw his invention of corn flakes as part of his health movement that he called “biological living.”

This was a time when the wealthy might have steak and pie for breakfast. Kellogg thought that meat and certain seasoned foods increased sexual desire, and that plainer food, especially cereals and nuts, could curb it. He was obsessed with unwanted sexual desires!

But despite Kellogg's obsessions, the breakfast cereal proved popular among the patients and the Kellogg Company (Kellogg's) was set up to produce corn flakes for the wider public. A patent for the process was granted in 1896. There is no evidence it prevented sexual desire!

1908 - Teddy Bears

A teddy bear is a soft toy in the form of a bear. Developed apparently simultaneously by toymakers Morris Michtom in the U.S. and Richard Steiff in Germany in the early years of the 20th century, and named after President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, the teddy bear became an iconic children's toy, celebrated in story, song, and film.

The name originated from an incident on a bear hunting trip in Mississippi in November 1902, to which Roosevelt was invited by Mississippi Governor Andrew H. Longino. There were several other hunters competing, and most of them had already killed an animal. A suite of Roosevelt's attendants, cornered, clubbed, and tied an American black bear to a willow tree after a long exhausting chase with hounds. They called Roosevelt to the site and suggested that he should shoot it. He refused to shoot the bear himself, deeming this unsportsmanlike, but instructed that the bear be killed to put it out of its misery, and it became the topic of a political cartoon by Clifford Berryman in The Washington Post on November 16, 1902

Morris Michtom saw the drawing of Roosevelt and was inspired to create a teddy bear. He created a tiny soft bear cub and put it in the shop window with a sign "Teddy's bear," after sending a bear to Roosevelt and receiving permission to use his name. The toys were an immediate success and Michtom founded the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company.

1909 - Chewing Gum

Keith Pandolfi comments that: “The practice of chewing gum dates back thousands of years, its enduring popularity evident in the dried chicle (a natural gum derived from trees) found among Mayan ruins in southern Mexico and the thousands of grayscale ovals pressed into city sidewalks around the world.”

Taking its name from the “chicle,” Chiclets is a brand of candy-coated chewing gum made by Cadbury Adams. The product's name is derived from the Spanish word chicle which is the name for chewing gum. Introduced in 1900, the original flavor was peppermint and assorted fruit flavors are still available in Algeria, Colombia, Argentina, Egypt, Canada, India, Iraq, Lebanon, Mexico, Venezuela, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Dominican Republic, United Kingdom, and parts of the Americas

What is interesting about this 1909 advertisement is that it sees gum as a mark of sophistication, part of dressing up, dining, and finishing the meal not with a mint, but with a chewing gum. Times have changed and gum is seen more of a casual pastime than something one does at dinner parties!

A Century in Advertising - Part 2

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

1904 - Hair Loss Treatment

Since the beginning of recorded history, men and women have searched out cures for hair loss. Over the last 5,000 years, there have been many cosmetic treatments that give the illusion of more hair, a few medical treatments that use drugs to affect the hair follicles, and some surgical treatments that remove bald areas or move hair follicles around. And these are just the treatments that work.

The industrial age brought new inventions to the marketplace, solving a countless number of life’s little problems. In St. Louis, the Evans Vacuum Cap Company marketed a suction device that: “…exercises the scalp and helps to circulate stagnant blood, feeding the shrunken hair roots, and causing the hair to grow…”

Jessica Marini says:

"In doing my research on hair transplant history I came across something that surprised me. The industrial age brought many little machines and gadgets to people’s lives to make them easier. One of these “little gadgets” was produced by the St Louis Vacuum Cap Company. This machine, so aptly named a Vacuum Cap, literally sucked your head. Safe to say this also didn’t work, although I’m sure it forced a lot of men to walk around with red rings around their bald heads."

1905 = The Dictator Shoe

As late as the second half of the 19th century, the term dictator had occasional positive implications. For example, when creating a provisional executive in Sicily during the Expedition of the Thousand in 1860, Giuseppe Garibaldi officially assumed the title of "Dictator" as a title suitable for a popular leader .

It was changing to the modern meaning, but this advert shows that it was still seen as positive in parts of the USA. Either that, or people didn't like lawyers.

There is an irony in John W Russ Co making such a shoe because they employed wages far below union scale and employed predominately poor immigrant workers who slaved to make "The Dictator Shoe".

1906 = A Harmless Temperance Beverage

Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink produced by The Coca-Cola Company. Originally intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Pemberton and was bought out by businessman Asa Griggs Candler, whose marketing tactics led Coca-Cola to its dominance of the world soft-drink market throughout the 20th century.

The 1906 slogan, "The Great National Temperance Beverage," reflects a time when the society in the United States was veering away from alcoholic beverages, and Coca-Cola provided a nice alternative.

It comes in the middle of the Third Wave of the Temperance movement: 1893-1933

This last wave of temperance in the United States saw the rise of the Anti-Saloon League (ASL), which successfully pushed for National Prohibition from its enactment in 1920 to its repeal in 1933. This heavily prohibitionist wave attracted a diverse coalition: doctors, pastors, and eugenicists; Klansmen and liberal internationalists; business leaders and labour radicals; conservative evangelicals and liberal theologians.

A Century in Advertising - Part 1

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

1900 - Box Brownie

The Brownie camera, introduced in February 1900, invented low-cost photography by introducing the concept of the snapshot to the masses. The Brownie was a very basic cardboard box camera with a simple meniscus lens that took 2 1/4-inch square pictures on 117 roll film.

The Brownie camera was conceived and marketed for sales of Kodak roll films. Because of its simple controls and initial price of $1 along with the low price of Kodak roll film and processing, The Brownie camera achieved and surpassed its marketing goal.

The Brownie is among the most important cameras in history.

One of the most popular Brownie models was the Brownie 127, millions of which were sold between 1952 and 1967. The Brownie 127 was a simple bakelite camera for 127 film which featured a simple meniscus lens and a curved film plane to compensate for the deficiencies of the lens. Another simple camera was the Brownie Cresta which was sold between 1955 and 1958. It used 120 film and had a fixed-focus lens.

The last official Brownie cameras made was the Brownie II Camera, a 110 cartridge film model produced in Brazil for one year...1986.

1901 - Snake-Oil Medicine

David Straight, in his article against pain, noted that:

"While the precise formula varied over time, the principle active ingredients in Antikamnia tablets remained the coaltar derivative acetanilid combined with caffeine, sodium bicarbonate, and citric acid."

"Because of the deaths associated with this drug, Antikamnia was one of the patent medicines particularly targeted by progressive consumer advocate Harvey W. Wiley, the first commissioner of the newly created Food and Drug Administration. The term “patent medicine” is somewhat of a misnomer, because few, if any, of the medicinal remedies marketed before the advent of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug laws were actually patented."

"After the Food and Drug Administration ruled in 1907 that preparations containing acetanilid must be clearly labeled, the Antikamnia Company changed its formula for the domestic market, instead using acetaphenetidin, an acetanilid derivative. It then advertised that its product contained no acetanilid. However, the British market, still unregulated, continued to receive the original formula tablets. "

"The Antikamnia Company directed a large percentage of its advertising budget into direct mailings, such as this postal card to physicians and pharmacists, providing them with free samples and literature to gain their acceptance and prescriptions."

1902 - Electric Cars

The Studebaker Electric was an automobile produced by the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company of South Bend, Indiana, a forerunner of the Studebaker Corporation. The battery-powered cars were sold from 1902 to 1912

Studebaker formally began production in earnest in 1902, and the company chose battery-powered electric vehicles because they were clean, easily recharged, and worked well in urban centers without need of refueling depots.

From 1902 to 1911, Studebaker produced around 1800 electric vehicles of all kinds. Even Thomas Edison owned one. His son told the Studebaker company that Edison “drove the wheels off of it” until the early 1920s, Beckman says.

But like today, the big technological hurdle was keeping an electric car charged. Back then, a Studebaker could go 40 miles at about 20 mph before losing power. Then you would have to plug it in and recharge it, and the electrical structure of US was not set up to handle this.

References
http://www.lindenwood.edu/files/resources/againstpain.pdf
https://www.pri.org/stories/2014-10-23/battle-between-gas-and-electric-cars-isnt-new