Alcohol and Drugs History Society

Beer advertising, 1933-1960 (article)

Nathan Michael Corzine, "Right at Home: Freedom and Domesticity in the Language and Imagery of Beer Advertising 1933-1960," Journal of Social History 43/4 (2010): 843-866.  Purdue graduate student who is writing a dissertation on baseball and drug abuse in the post-World War II era.

U.S. Drinks Conference 2010

The conference Agenda for Oct 12 & 13, 2010, in NYC reveals what might be considered important in marketing alcoholic beverages today. Here is the link. Panel topics that exist within a historical context include "Trends", "Social Media Marketing" (2 workshops), "Regulation", and "Importation".

TV Liquor ads - "cheesy" says Washington Post

In 1996 Federal legislation permitted liquor ads on TV. This WP blog touches on the history of those ads in the US and even earlier in other countries and gives a few entertaining examples via Youtube.

Beer goes to war (article)

Lisa Jacobson, "Beer Goes to War: The Politics of Beer Promotion and Production in the Second World War," Food, Culture, and Society 12 (September 2009): 275-312. Her current research centers on a book, Cultures of Drink: Alcohol Promotion and Consumption in the United States after Prohibition Repeal. The University of California at Santa Barbara website describes this project, "a comparative study of vintners, brewers, and distillers [that] examines how alcohol producers, advertisers, popular media, tastemakers, and consumers forged distinctive (and sometimes antagonistic) cultures of drink in the four decades following Prohibition’s repeal in 1933."

American brewers and public relations, 1909-1919 (article)

Margot Opdycke Lamme, "The Brewers and Public Relations History, 1909-1919,"  Journal of Public Relations Research 21/4 (October 2009): 456-477.

Alcohol's big role in the new Harry Potter Movie

The NY Times article says "Previous Harry Potter movies have shown drinking, but this one takes it to a new level." Here's the link.

Drink Talking (book)

Drink Talking : 100 Years of Alcohol Advertising. by Penny Dade, (Series: Library of historic advertising) [London]: Middlesex University Press, 2008. 160p. Here's the link to the publisher's webpage for the book.

Weed, booze, cocaine and other old school "medicine" ads

Intriguing assemblage of old illustrated advertisements on the blog "Pill Talk," June 9, 2009, here.

Weed, Booze, Cocaine and Other Old School "Medicine" Ads

Posted by Mark Jun 9th, 14:50

Granted, hindsight is 20/20, but some awfully strange substances have been used for pharmaceutical purposes in the past -- and some might argue, continue to be used today. Here are some vintage advertisements touting items that we might balk at taking today.

Cocaine:

Lloyd Cocaine Toothache Drops
In the US, cocaine was sold over the counter until 1914 and was commonly found in products like toothache drops, dandruff remedies and medicinal tonics.



Metcalf's Coca Wine
Coca wine combined wine with cocaine, producing a compound now known as cocaethylene, which, when ingested, is nearly as powerful a stimulant as cocaine.



Vin Mariani Wine
The marketing efforts for coca wine focused primarily on its medicinal properties, in part because it didn't taste very good and in part because the cocaethylene effects were perceived to "fortify and refresh body and brain" and "restore health and vitality."

Heroin:

Bayer Heroin
From 1898 through to 1910, heroin was marketed as a cough suppressant by trusted companies like Bayer -- alongside the company's other new product, Aspirin.



Smith Glyco-Heroin
A mixture of heroin and glycerin. "No other preparation has had its therapeutic value more thoroughly defined or better established."

Opium:

Pantopon Roche Injectable Opium
"Try Pantopon in place of morphine for dependable, optimum relief of pain."

Morphine:

Ayer's Cherry Pectoral
Depending on which list of contents you reference, this cure for colds, coughs and "all diseases of the throat and lungs" contained either morphine or heroin.



Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup
Contained 65 mg of morphine per fluid ounce. "For children teething."

Quaaludes:

Quaalude-300
Brand name for the now-illegal sedative methaqualone. "Now the physician has one less tired, sleepy and apprehensive patient to contend with."

Cigarettes:

Dr. Batty's Asthma Cigarettes
Cigarettes with unknown contents claimed to provide temporary relief of everything from asthma to colds, canker sores and bad breath. "Not recommended for children under 6."

Alcohol:

Anheuser-Bush's Malt-Nutrine
Starting in the late 1800s, many breweries produced "food tonics," malt beverages containing around 2% alcohol that were promoted as "food in liquid form," aiding in digestion, increasing appetite and aiding in sleep. "A boon to nursing mothers."



Pabst Extract
A malt tonic from Pabst. "The best tonic prepares the way for happy, healthy motherhood."

Chloroform:

Kimball White Pine and Tar Cough Syrup
Until 1976, chloroform was used in consumer products like cough syrup, toothpastes, ointments and other pharmaceuticals.

Marijuana:

Cosadein
This cough remedy contained, among other things, codeine, chloroform and cannabis.

Soda:

Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola was invented in the late 1800s as a "coca wine" (see above) mix of wine and cocaine, but the alcohol and cocaine were later replaced with syrup and coca leaves, respectively. Nevertheless, typical coca wine claims of increased vitality remained for many years.



"A valuable brain tonic, and a cure for all nervous affections -- sick head-ache, neuralgia, hysteria, melancholy."

Amphetamines:

Biphetamine
A combination of two amphetamines; known popularly as "black beauties." Marketed for its weight loss benefits.



Norodin
Brand name for methamphetamine. "The selective cerebral action of Norodin is useful in dispelling the shadows of mild mental depression."



Dexedrine
Brand name for dextroamphetamine. "Many of your patients -- particularly housewives -- are crushed under a load of dull, routine duties that leave them in a state of mental and emotional fatigue...Dexedrine will give them a feeling of energy and well-being, renewing their interest in life and living."

Barbiturates:

McNeil Butisol Sodium 
Brand name for butabarbital. "Mabel is unstable...it's 'that time' in her life. To see her through the menopause, there's gentle 'daytime sedation' in Butisol Sodium."



Nembutal Suppositories
Brand name for pentobarbital. "When little patients balk at scary, disquieting examinations...When they need prompt sedation (and the oral route isn't feasible)...try Nembutal sodium suppositories...There is little tendency toward morning-after hangover."



Lakeside Pentobarbital and Phenobarbital
"When crisis demands quick-acting hypnotics."

Unknown-Content Quackery:

Dr. Miles' Nervine
"Since I have been taking Nervine, nothing bothers me."



Wolcott's Instant Pain Annihilator
"A speedy & permanent cure for headache, toothache, neuralgia, catarrh and weak nerves."



Dalley's Magical Pain Extractor
"Molly Pitcher, the heroine of Monmouth, avenging her husband's death."



Dr. Ham's Aromatic Invigorator
A "cure for Dyspepsia, Low Spirits, Nervousness, Heartburn, Colic Pains, Wind in the Stomach or Pains in the Bowels, Headache, Drowsiness, Kidney and Liver Complaints, Melancholy, Delirium Tremens, and Intemperance."

Coffee advertising (article)

Robert W.Thurston, "Ad Infinitum: A Gallery of Coffee Advertising," Roast: The Magazine Dedicated to the Success of Coffee Roasters, May/June 2009.

Alcohol and Tobacco in "Advertising and Society"

Carol Pardun, PhD, director of the U. of So. Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Communications, and President Elect of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication has authored Advertising and Society: Controversies and Consequences, 2009, Wiley-Blackwell, with two chapters on alcohol and tobacco. "Tobacco advertising : when people do dumb things" and "Alcohol advertising : a match made in heaven or a pact with the devil?" Publisher's webpage is here.  Pardun does research on the effects of advertising on adolescents.