Are you TOO FAT? That seems to have been the worry even back in 1898. Do you suppose our current day diet aids stem from this product? I can't imagine what must be in this, but you can get a sample box FREE (in a plain sealed package) upon the receipt of 4 cents to cover postage, packing, etc. Mrs. Helen Weber , in the upper right hand corner, reduced her weight by 40 lbs. "without sickness or any inconvenience whatever". And Mrs E. Brown, in the upper left corner, says "It's an excellent flesh reducer, and improved my health wonderfully." This was thought to be needed because "obesity predisposes to Heart Trouble, Paralysis, Liver Disease, Constipation, Rheumatism, Apoplexy, Etc., and is not only dangerous, but extremely annoying to people of refined taste." Heaven forbid, we should be annoying to people of refined taste! I, personally, find many people of refined taste annoying! They also offer $100 in Gold to anyone who can prove that any of their testimonials is not genuine. I wonder if that offer is still good?
As I spend hours going through old magazines and books, I often think to myself that no matter how evolved we think we are today, we really haven't changed at all.
2 comments:
What a terrific ad - where did you find it?
They did indeed worry back then, I have a book by beauty expert Harriet Hubard Ayer from the 1890s in which she has a case history of a woman who needed to lose weight. Ayer of course was totally successful with her :)
And then there was Banting, too...nothing like today though. i wonder what sort of diet aid this was?
This came from a 1898 issue of "The Ladies' World". It was an ad by the Hall Chemical Co. of St. Louis, Missouri. It gives no clue as to what's in it. I came across another article in an early 1900's women's magazine about the growing problem of childhood obesity. I keep meaning to find it again so I can put it on here.
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