Well, they're great big brown pills, and they look like M&Ms. They don't melt in your mouth, and they won't melt in your hand.
May 26, 2008 3:54 PM Subscribe
The Bonkers Institute presents The Nearly Genuine and Truly Marvelous
Psychoneuropharmacological Mental Medicine Show, a gallery of modern and vintage psychiatric drug advertising.
post title is a reference to a song by Penn Jillette's old band
post title is a reference to a song by Penn Jillette's old band
As someone who was a tad misled about (and a tad overeager to take) prescription drugs, I give this three slightly blurry but furiously barking thumbs up.
posted by muzzlecough at 4:24 PM on May 26, 2008
posted by muzzlecough at 4:24 PM on May 26, 2008
*folds out a soapbox stand, holds up a bullhorn*
Well, hello, hello, all you good and decent folks out there, you're lookin' a little down in the dumps on this fine and sunny day! That won't do, that won't do, no sir, no sir, not a bit! Well have I got a salve to sooth what ails ya! Ya see, it's all contained in this one little bottle o' magic right here don't you know. It's burstin' with all sorts of scientological and technomagogical alchemy to chase away your aches and pains and make your day just a little bit brighter! What do we call this miracular substance, you ask? Well that's a fine and dandy question and I'm glad you asked it, madam, thank ye kindly. This here's what we call Dr. Goodbody's All-American Wonder-cream, invented and innovatated right in this very state we all love and call home. Just one taste and it'll fix yer faults in a lickety-split! Just imagine a world with no more bumps and burns and bunions and bruises, a world without pain! And this world can be yours, for the low, low price of price of a few easy payments of $9.99. Just a few, mind you, and if'n you can't make scratch don't worry yourself a bit, I'm shore we can work something out right quick. *holds hat to heart* We here at the Dr. Goodbody Institute of Healthy Bodies care about the plight of the unfortunate among us, and show it by donatin' a certain part of our profits to the Dr. Goodbody Foundation for Charitable Things. It's the right thing to do. So if you want to support poor people around this proud country while makin' yourselves and your children big and strong, then step right up and have a look at our wares. I'll be here all day!
posted by Rhaomi at 4:48 PM on May 26, 2008
Well, hello, hello, all you good and decent folks out there, you're lookin' a little down in the dumps on this fine and sunny day! That won't do, that won't do, no sir, no sir, not a bit! Well have I got a salve to sooth what ails ya! Ya see, it's all contained in this one little bottle o' magic right here don't you know. It's burstin' with all sorts of scientological and technomagogical alchemy to chase away your aches and pains and make your day just a little bit brighter! What do we call this miracular substance, you ask? Well that's a fine and dandy question and I'm glad you asked it, madam, thank ye kindly. This here's what we call Dr. Goodbody's All-American Wonder-cream, invented and innovatated right in this very state we all love and call home. Just one taste and it'll fix yer faults in a lickety-split! Just imagine a world with no more bumps and burns and bunions and bruises, a world without pain! And this world can be yours, for the low, low price of price of a few easy payments of $9.99. Just a few, mind you, and if'n you can't make scratch don't worry yourself a bit, I'm shore we can work something out right quick. *holds hat to heart* We here at the Dr. Goodbody Institute of Healthy Bodies care about the plight of the unfortunate among us, and show it by donatin' a certain part of our profits to the Dr. Goodbody Foundation for Charitable Things. It's the right thing to do. So if you want to support poor people around this proud country while makin' yourselves and your children big and strong, then step right up and have a look at our wares. I'll be here all day!
posted by Rhaomi at 4:48 PM on May 26, 2008
The thing to remember about the past is they were walking around wasted all the time. All day long. Some places and times they'd drink beer by default, not water. Some times for whatever ailed you they had some heroin, marijuana tincture, or cocaine.
In the present, they have dumber names like Xanax, Adderalls, and Oxycontins.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 5:19 PM on May 26, 2008 [1 favorite]
In the present, they have dumber names like Xanax, Adderalls, and Oxycontins.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 5:19 PM on May 26, 2008 [1 favorite]
The more things change, the more they stay the same. (Pass the Eli Lilly genuine placebo, plsthx)
posted by not_on_display at 6:16 PM on May 26, 2008
posted by not_on_display at 6:16 PM on May 26, 2008
> I'unno, it's BLANK. Better take a couple more to really feel it, man.
posted by not_on_display at 4:36 PM on May 27, 2008
posted by not_on_display at 4:36 PM on May 27, 2008
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I remember when I was in pharmacy school in the mid 1980's going to the library and looking through 50's and 60's issues of JAMA and New England Journal of Medicine. I quickly discovered that they don't tell you about "the bad old days" in class.
Thorazine for peptic ulcers, indeed...
They were very big on speed and downer combinations back then, often targeted at women. The gender and age stereotypes in the ads are really mind blowing.
I'm glad that this hidden history is now easily available to a wide audience. Trust me, there is great deal of pharmaceutical advertising like this, and this website can easily be expanded.
What will people in 40 years think of today's pharmaceutical proliferation? My guess is that they will be shocked at how much speed is given to kids...
posted by Tube at 4:19 PM on May 26, 2008