“Don’t be afraid of contagion. Kiss your Uncle Ebenezer, even if he’s dying of tuberculosis! Just fortify yourself with a sip of Lungicide before you go to his bedside, and another when you come away, and you’ll be taking no risk.
“Are you going to sit there and let the other folks eat up all the good things just because you are afraid to pitch in, when 2 or 3 Bell-Ans taken before and after the meal would enable you to enjoy your share of all that’s coming without a bit of discomfort or distress? Bell-Ans has restored the pleasures of the table to thousands who say: ‘I can now eat anything and plenty of it, too.’ ”
“The first two blurbs are The Ad-Visor’s. The third is a bona fide advertisement of Bell-Ans, aimed to catch the holiday trade. They are all patterned after the same style and the first two are no more lacking in logic than the last. Overeat—deliberately court indigestion—invite gout—don’t be a gourmet, be a gourmand—be an anti-Hoover and eat a lot of food, whether you need it or not; than take Bell-Ans. If it doesn’t ‘absolutely remove indigestion,’ your druggist will give you back your money! Could anything be fairer than that?
“Such copy as this is not limited in its evil effects to the misguided individual who eats lobster and ice cream at midnight and trusts to Bell-Ans to atone for his indiscretion. The most serious effect of such reckless advice is the example which the advertising sets to other advertisers.”
The comments just quoted are from the Ad-Visor department of the New York Tribune of Feb. 7, 1918. They are respectfully referred to the New York Medical Journal, the International Journal of Surgery and the Woman’s Medical Journal—three presumably scientific publications that through their advertising pages urge physicians to prescribe Bell-ans.—(From The Journal A.M.A., Feb. 23, 1918.)