Thursday, October 7, 2010

13 Wildly Irresponsible Vintage Ads Aimed at Kids: #9. Ayer's Cough Syrup


Seriously, check out the dazed, stupefied look the kid on the left is sporting, while her sibling tries desperately to somehow open the giant bottle with a spoon. Both can be explained by the fact that Ayer's Cherry Pectoral, a self-proclaimed cure-all for any throat or lung problems, contained opium.
Yeah, don't wait for Mommy and Daddy to pry open the 50-gallon drum of opium juice, young Sally. We'll show you how to get the lid off with common household utensils. Just don't depend on little Mary for help -- she'll be spending the next three days marveling at how the whole world seems to be covered in fur.


23 comments:

  1. that took some talent to make that ad

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  2. A lot of children meds back in the day were designed to knock your kid out. Much easier to do that than actually take the time to rear them properly. =p

    Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast had an awesome blitz edition that discussed how civilizations used to perceive children and a parent's role in their life. It really puts this ad into context.

    http://www.dancarlin.com/disp.php/hharchive/Show-31---%28BLITZ%29-Suffer-the-Children/%20children-psychology-abuse

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  3. these ideas are going to inspire my next GTL Everyday post... stay tuned

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  4. haha, just what i need. =)

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  5. Have you tried giving your kids unflavored opium?

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  6. i think the idea was to make the kids look sick or ill but maybe im mistaken. but the kid reaching for cap yeah that is kind of messed up.

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  7. I like what you said here... btw, I have new bubbles on Enhanced by MS Paint :)

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  8. I like the layout you used on this blog :)

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  9. Used to be a common and noble purpose to get your kids whacked out on something and sit em in front of a tv for a while... now it's like a federal crime...

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  10. Mommy mommy, is it time to robofry?

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  11. Well the kids just won't take their opium without a spoonful of sugar.

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  12. hell ya, this is back when Coke still had coke in it.

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  13. mmmmmm, i wonder what's really on that bottle.

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  14. kinda weird facial expression oO

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