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March, 1930 The Health Bulletin AN APRIL MEDLEY A NUMBER OF THINGS, INCLUDING "PATENT'^ MEDICINES, NEWSPAPER ADVERTISING AND TESTIMONIALS FROM PROHIBITION LECTURERS To those people who think that the patent medicine industry is either dead or in a dying condition we would like to suggest that they make some observations for themselves. First, spend a lot of time each day in looking over the advertisements appearing in the average daily or weekly newspaper. Take a rule and measure the amount of space utilized in any daily issue, say, of any morning newspaper published in North Carolina, in advertising. Then measure the percentage of the advertising devoted to so-called ''patent medicines." You will be amazed to see the large percentage of high priced newspaper space bought and paid for by the patent medicine industry every day. Second, take a seat by the fountain in any busy drug store, especially the cut-rate places, where they sell dollar package medicine for ninety-nine cents, and note how rapidly the shelves are thinned out of package stuff. It is almost equal to a raid on a chain grocery store in a busy hour. These things indicate that people are yet buying and consuming large quantities of the stuff sold in such atractive packages, bottles, and so on, and advertised so attractively by people who know how to exploit such things. Along about this time of year, when the winter is vanishing and the spring and sumer is beginning to influence our feelings, the most of us revert to type and either have the spring fever feeling or we think that our blood needs purifying, our system needs clearing, or we need some kind of a tonic to make us feel better. In the sassafras tea area, where sulphur and molasses form the chief base, not much damage is done except to the feelings of the youngsters who are forced to take on a good bit of this stuff. For most of the population, however, the dependence must still be placed in the "patents." So what more natural than for us to experience the usual human reaction when we look into our favorite morning newspaper and see a testimonial from some great man or noted actress proclaiming the cure-all qualities of one or another nostrum, all of which invariably has a fine alcoholic content. The newspapers help these things along mightily. Naturally it is not our province to undertake to regulate the ethics of the newspaper profession, as we have a hard enough time regulating the ethics of our own profession; but some of these days we are going to write an editorial under the heading, "Advertising for Results That Cannot Be Got." That however, is another story which must wait a while longer. Science News Letter carried a story a few weeks ago quoting a woman physician who had lived in the South Sea Islands with one of the most primitive tribes encountered in that famed area. This woman physician, on coming back to civilization, announced in her first interview that she had come to the conclusion, from living among these Islanders, that human nature had changed but little since the Stone Age. That is reputed to have been twenty to thirty thousand years ago. It is even so in the realm with patent medicine exploitation. Manners may change and methods may be altered, but we are the same gullible kind of people that we have always been when it comes to listening to the siren voice of the fellow who has something to sell us, especially if he can succeed in making
Object Description
Rating | |
Fixed Title * | NCHH-04: The Health Bulletin [1914-1973] |
Document Title | The Health Bulletin [1914-1973] |
Subject Topical | Public health -- North Carolina -- Periodicals. |
Subject Topical Other | Public Health -- North Carolina -- Periodicals. |
Contributor | North Carolina. State Board of Health. |
Publisher | Raleigh, North Carolina State Board of Health. |
Repository | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Health Sciences Library. |
Host | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
Date | 1930 |
Identifier | NCHH-04-045 |
Form General | Periodicals |
Language | English |
Rights | This item is part of the North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection. Some materials in the Collection are protected by U.S. copyright law. This item is presented by the Health Sciences Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for research and educational purposes. It may not be republished or distributed without permission of the Health Sciences Library. |
Digital Collection | North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection |
Sponsor | The North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection is an open access publishing initiative of the Health Sciences Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Financial support for the initiative was provided in part by a multi-year NC ECHO (Exploring Cultural Heritage Online) digitization grant, awarded by the State Library of North Carolina, and funded through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). |
Volume Number | 45 |
Health Discipline | Public Health |
Digital Format | JPEG 2000 |
Print / Download PDF Version | http://archives.hsl.unc.edu/nchh/nchh-04/nchh-04-045.pdf |
Document Sort | all; group-b; nchh-04 |
Volume Link | http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/search/collection/nchh/field/identi/searchterm/NCHH-04-045 |
Title Link | http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/search/collection/nchh/field/documa/searchterm/NCHH-04 |
Catalog Record link | http://search.lib.unc.edu/search?R=UNCb1296443 |
Description
Fixed Title * | Page 5 |
Document Title | The Health Bulletin [1914-1973] |
Subject Topical | Public health -- North Carolina -- Periodicals. |
Subject Topical Other | Public Health -- North Carolina -- Periodicals. |
Contributor | North Carolina. State Board of Health. |
Publisher | Raleigh, North Carolina State Board of Health. |
Repository | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Health Sciences Library. |
Host | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
Date | 1930 |
Identifier | NCHH-04-045-0107 |
Form General | Periodicals |
Page Type | all; report/review |
Language | English |
Rights | This item is part of the North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection. Some materials in the Collection are protected by U.S. copyright law. This item is presented by the Health Sciences Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for research and educational purposes. It may not be republished or distributed without permission of the Health Sciences Library. |
Filename | healthbulletinse45nort_0107.jp2 |
Digital Collection | North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection |
Sponsor | The North Carolina History of Health Digital Collection is an open access publishing initiative of the Health Sciences Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Financial support for the initiative was provided in part by a multi-year NC ECHO (Exploring Cultural Heritage Online) digitization grant, awarded by the State Library of North Carolina, and funded through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). |
Volume Number | 45 |
Issue Number | 4 |
Page Number | 5 |
Health Discipline | Public Health |
Full Text | March, 1930 The Health Bulletin AN APRIL MEDLEY A NUMBER OF THINGS, INCLUDING "PATENT'^ MEDICINES, NEWSPAPER ADVERTISING AND TESTIMONIALS FROM PROHIBITION LECTURERS To those people who think that the patent medicine industry is either dead or in a dying condition we would like to suggest that they make some observations for themselves. First, spend a lot of time each day in looking over the advertisements appearing in the average daily or weekly newspaper. Take a rule and measure the amount of space utilized in any daily issue, say, of any morning newspaper published in North Carolina, in advertising. Then measure the percentage of the advertising devoted to so-called ''patent medicines." You will be amazed to see the large percentage of high priced newspaper space bought and paid for by the patent medicine industry every day. Second, take a seat by the fountain in any busy drug store, especially the cut-rate places, where they sell dollar package medicine for ninety-nine cents, and note how rapidly the shelves are thinned out of package stuff. It is almost equal to a raid on a chain grocery store in a busy hour. These things indicate that people are yet buying and consuming large quantities of the stuff sold in such atractive packages, bottles, and so on, and advertised so attractively by people who know how to exploit such things. Along about this time of year, when the winter is vanishing and the spring and sumer is beginning to influence our feelings, the most of us revert to type and either have the spring fever feeling or we think that our blood needs purifying, our system needs clearing, or we need some kind of a tonic to make us feel better. In the sassafras tea area, where sulphur and molasses form the chief base, not much damage is done except to the feelings of the youngsters who are forced to take on a good bit of this stuff. For most of the population, however, the dependence must still be placed in the "patents." So what more natural than for us to experience the usual human reaction when we look into our favorite morning newspaper and see a testimonial from some great man or noted actress proclaiming the cure-all qualities of one or another nostrum, all of which invariably has a fine alcoholic content. The newspapers help these things along mightily. Naturally it is not our province to undertake to regulate the ethics of the newspaper profession, as we have a hard enough time regulating the ethics of our own profession; but some of these days we are going to write an editorial under the heading, "Advertising for Results That Cannot Be Got." That however, is another story which must wait a while longer. Science News Letter carried a story a few weeks ago quoting a woman physician who had lived in the South Sea Islands with one of the most primitive tribes encountered in that famed area. This woman physician, on coming back to civilization, announced in her first interview that she had come to the conclusion, from living among these Islanders, that human nature had changed but little since the Stone Age. That is reputed to have been twenty to thirty thousand years ago. It is even so in the realm with patent medicine exploitation. Manners may change and methods may be altered, but we are the same gullible kind of people that we have always been when it comes to listening to the siren voice of the fellow who has something to sell us, especially if he can succeed in making |
Digital Format | JPEG 2000 |
Print / Download PDF Version | http://archives.hsl.unc.edu/nchh/nchh-04/nchh-04-045.pdf |
Document Sort | all; group-b; nchh-04 |
Volume Link | http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/search/collection/nchh/field/identi/searchterm/NCHH-04-045 |
Title Link | http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/search/collection/nchh/field/documa/searchterm/NCHH-04 |
Catalog Record link | http://search.lib.unc.edu/search?R=UNCb1296443 |
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