Old Medical Advertisements: The World War II Years

Medical Advertising Rewound
A few months back Medscape published a slideshow of early 20th century medical advertisements unearthed from New York City's Goldwater Memorial Teaching Hospital, which is being moved to make way for Cornell University's planned tech campus on Roosevelt Island. The ads were discovered and cataloged by Roosevelt Island Historical Society President Judith Berdy, who kindly provided them to Medscape and who also sent over a collection of ads she'd discovered that had been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in the early 1940s. The science had noticeably evolved since the earlier ads, but as this slideshow demonstrates, there are still some glaring differences between the content and tone of WWII-era medical ads and those published today, including the abundance of direct-to-physician cigarette shills.

The War Effort
Numerous ads from JAMA issues of this era involved World War II, primarily urging physicians to support the war effort.

Photo courtesy of the Journal of the American Medical Association

Enter Syphilis
Historically, war has often come with increased rates of sexually transmitted diseases among soldiers. Hence, not surprisingly, ads for venereal disease remedies, particularly for syphilis, were very common in medical journals from the WWII era. Penicillin was discovered by Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming in 1928, and most of the available supply during the war was used to treat syphilis rather than infected wounds.

Photo courtesy of the Journal of the American Medical Association

War Food
This ad for Standard Brands Incorporated's enriched white bread emphasizes (exaggerates?) how important bread was in the war effort: "Nutritional food is helping to produce 185,000 planes, 120,000 tanks, 55,000 anti-aircraft guns and 18,000,000 tons of vital shipping. As war effort mounts, good nutrition becomes more and more important..." During the 1940s, government-sponsored programs encouraged bread makers to enrich their products with vitamins and minerals to combat nutritional deficiencies like beriberi and pellagra.

Photo courtesy of the Journal of the American Medical Association

One for Your Office
Doctors in the 1940s who were interested in adorning their office walls with a painting of a severely ill woman getting loaded into an ambulance were in luck. Reproductions of this piece, called Ambulance Call, were "suitable for framing [and] available to physicians only on request," courtesy of Chicago's Armour Laboratories.

Photo courtesy of the Journal of the American Medical Association

Big Tobacco "cures just one thing"...
Medical journals from the 1940s were packed with tobacco ads. "We're tobacco men, not medicine men. But if you've got an acute desire for a smooth, mellow-mild cigarette...light an Old Gold," reads this ad for Old Gold cigarettes (not shown here). "For a Treat instead of a Treatment...treat yourself to OLD GOLDS."

Photo courtesy of the Journal of the American Medical Association

...And Is Also "exhibited to the doctors"
The rest of the copy for this spot claims that "Philip Morris has an advantage scientifically demonstrable...Tests showed that when smokers changed to Philip Morris, every case of irritation of the nose and throat due to smoking cleared completely."

Photo courtesy of the Journal of the American Medical Association

"We cure tobacco...not people!"
Kool invited physicians to write the company a note on their office stationery. In return, docs would receive a complementary pack of cigarettes.

Photo courtesy of the Journal of the American Medical Association

Carbs and Cola
Carrying on over donuts and Coca-Cola—not a scene common to today's medical journals.

Photo courtesy of the Journal of the American Medical Association

Butter for Your Health
This spot from the National Dairy Council touts the health benefits of butter, particularly for its vitamin A content and contribution to national health. Though it might be overselling the positive health effects of butter, recent evidence conflicts with the long-held view that moderate saturated fat consumption is a major cardiovascular disease risk factor.

Photo courtesy of the Journal of the American Medical Association

Be More Optimistic With Amphetamines
Though first synthesized in Germany in 1887, amphetamines' stimulant properties weren't discovered until 1927, and they weren't used clinically until 1934 when Smith, Kline, and French began selling an inhaled formulation they called Benzedrine, to treat congestion. Subsequently, amphetamines were promoted to improve energy and alertness and were used by both Axis and Allied forces during WWII for their performance-enhancing effects.

Photo courtesy of the Journal of the American Medical Association

"Don't let morale ebb with the flow!"
And the winner for best wartime menstruation pun is...this ad from Tampax.

Photo courtesy of the Journal of the American Medical Association

More Power for Your Practice
Buick advertised directly to the busy men of medicine, citing "so much power in reserve" that doctors could schedule their house calls to the minute and still make their daily rounds.

Photo courtesy of the Journal of the American Medical Association

Government-Grade Tomatoes
This direct-to-physician plug has a nurse bringing a doctor a cup of refreshing, vitamin-rich tomato juice. The ad copy states somewhat vaguely that the beverage is "Served, with our compliments, at our booth at the convention" and touts the "goodness of U.S. Government grade tomatoes."

Photo courtesy of the Journal of the American Medical Association

An Approachable Image
Lilly wasn't promoting a specific product here. Instead, its ad evoked an all-American, Norman Rockwellian charm likely intended to endear readers to the company.

Photo courtesy of the Journal of the American Medical Association

Pick a Color, Any Color
Initially extracted from animal pancreases, insulin has been sold commercially since 1922 when pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly partnered with researchers who'd been working to perfect extraction and purification.

Photo courtesy of the Journal of the American Medical Association

"I'll Be Right Over!"
And finally, one more cigarette ad, this one for Camel, with copy reading, "When there's a job to do, he does it. A few winks of sleep...a few puffs of a cigarette...and he's back at that job again..."

Photo courtesy of the Journal of the American Medical Association