Dylan Edwards (NDR) ([info]ndrtoon) wrote,
@ 2009-06-23 18:05:00
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Entry tags:advertising, marketing

A blood vessel in the brain had burst from straining
So I'm cleaning out the ol' apartment, as I am preparing to move once again. I ran across this ad from the late 19th/early 20th century, which I initially found framed at Goodwill (I was buying the frame itself, FYI, though I obviously found the contents to be worth keeping). It is a beautiful testament to the truly surreal world of advertising. Behold:







I suppose modern advertisers find their own ways of saying BUY OUR PRODUCTS OR YOU WILL DIE. But how many of them actually show Death putting his hands on you? So fucking awesome. Also, note the crappy (no pun intended) paste-up job on the logo. Perhaps the production assistant had taken one two many Cascarets and was in a hurry to finish up.


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[info]teratomarty
2009-06-24 01:31 am UTC (link)
Err, so. It says the minister was found dead on the bathroom floor, right? And we're seeing the icy hand of Death reach out for him, right? WE'RE SEEING A MAN DIE ON THE TOILET?! While he's reading a damn magazine! That's grotesque!

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[info]njslutmuffin
2009-06-24 02:51 am UTC (link)
And so unholy. Cotton Mather would have spent the whole time in the WC thinking godly thoughts, so he sez.

Sure that's not the BM Fairy? After today's events, I believe. Make that, I Believe!

And, er, costiveness? Is that like when things are 'spensive?

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
Since you asked:
[info]ndrtoon
2009-06-24 02:46 pm UTC (link)
Costive \Cos"tive\ (k?s"t?v), a. [OF. costev['e], p. p. of
costever, F. constiper, L. constipare to press closely
together, to cram; con- + stipare to press together, cram.
See Stipulate, Stiff, and cf. Constipate.]
1. Retaining fecal matter in the bowels; having too slow a
motion of the bowels; constipated.

2. Reserved; formal; close; cold. [Obs.] ``A costive brain.''
--Prior. ``Costive of laughter.'' --B. Jonson.

You must be frank, but without indiscretion; and
close, but without being costive. --Lord
Chesterfield.

3. Dry and hard; impermeable; unyielding. [Obs.]

Clay in dry seasons is costive, hardening with the
sun and wind. --Mortimer.

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[info]ndrtoon
2009-06-24 02:43 pm UTC (link)
Really, they just had no sense of decency in those days.

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[info]_rck_
2009-06-24 02:47 am UTC (link)
And people think we are out of bounds these days. Against the guys from back then, what do we have got? Nothing.

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[info]ndrtoon
2009-06-24 02:49 pm UTC (link)
It is indeed worth remembering that laws against false advertising and unsubstantiated claims didn't just pop up out of nowhere.

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[info]eyeteeth
2009-06-24 05:52 pm UTC (link)
Out of curiosity as to what precisely was in Cascarets (turns out to be a powerfully laxative herb called cascara), I found this nifty website: Tim's Tins. Check out the Cascarets tins here. The tins themselves are gorgeous and the hyperbolic claims are a hoot. It's somehow reassuring to know that all that stuff about "internal cleansing" and "impure blood" -- and the equation of illness with sin -- isn't new.

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[info]ndrtoon
2009-06-24 07:21 pm UTC (link)
Well, we don't know for a fact that it doesn't stimulate the liver and make pure the blood, so go ahead and slap that copy on there! Guaranteed to cure cancer!*

* Does not actually cure cancer.

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