Photo Gallery: Medical Advertising from the 20th Century – remembering an era when doctors were always right and diversity was less expansive

2018.01.14 Pharmaceutical Ads from the 20th Century 226
2018.01.14 Pharmaceutical Ads from the 20th Century 226 (View on Flickr.com)

Remember estrogen?

While doing some research on the medical profession’s misadventures – the times it thought it was right, at great cost to itself and the patients, I stumbled on this year of the New York State Journal of Medicine (Scanned and @CreativeCommons licensed).

2018.01.14 Pharmaceutical Ads from the 20th Century 238
2018.01.14 Pharmaceutical Ads from the 20th Century 238 (View on Flickr.com)

I grew up in a physician household and I remember some of what was a relatively secret communication modality within the profession – the pages of medical journals. The ads, designed to influence prescribing patterns, confused me as a kid because I remember how they portrayed patients in ways that didn’t correlate to the way I envisioned the profession to be.

1966 was also the era, beginning, in 1961, when Americans were cautioned against eating fat, and their diets were re-engineered to boost carbohydrate intake (see: More from my trip to the Library of Congress and incredible US News and World Report photo collection: 1968’s Harried Housewife Preparing Convenience Foods (and how her diet was re-engineered to be carbohydrate-rich) )

"Harried Housewife Preparing Comvenience Foods" 1968, when trans fats were considered healthy and engineered food was a good thing. Glad that century ended.
“Harried Housewife Preparing Comvenience Foods” 1968, when trans fats were considered healthy and engineered food was a good thing. Glad that century ended. @librarycongress @usnews collection. #DontFearFat #FearTransFat #1968 (View on Flickr.com)
2018.01.14 Pharmaceutical Ads from the 20th Century 236
2018.01.14 Pharmaceutical Ads from the 20th Century 236 (View on Flickr.com)

See for yourself, and celebrate the fact that the 20th Century was a long time ago and it’s not coming back. I am 🙂 .

Ted Eytan, MD