Odd 20th Century Ads

By Restless [Originally on goofyblog 5.11.07]

Whether it’s the zombie children, the pig that slices itself up, the Nembutal® Elixir for children or the sales of Lysol as a vaginal douche, this long page of ads, mostly from the first half of the 20th century, catch the eye.

Bayer Heroin was sold all over the world for over a decade until Bayer stopped making it in 1913. By 1914 it was illegal without a prescription. Initially it was seen as a godsend for tuberculosis and pneumonia patients (the 2 leading causes of death at the time) because it supressed the debilitating coughing of both ailments.

Bayer’s other product, Aspirin, was launched the same year. Of the 23 countries Bayer sold their heroin to, the U.S. was “where it really took off was the US, where there was already a large population of morphine addicts, a craze for patent medicines, and a relatively lax regulatory framework.”¹

Link (Via neatorama)

¹ from How aspirin turned hero.