Hilarious, Historic Snake Oil Labels
The phrase “snake oil” originally referred to a traditional Chinese medicine used to treat joint pain. When it was popularized in the U.S., during the time of building the Transcontinental Railroad, patented medicine salesmen—angry at the fact that snake oil medicines were cutting into their profits—used the term pejoratively to refer to medicines that were sold by quacks.
The term snake oil then became a generic name for many of the future medicines marketed as panaceas or miraculous remedies. In reality the vast majority of these medicines were nothing more than the equivalent of sugar pills. Follow us on a journey as we take a look at some of history’s most charming snake oil labels.
Dr. Pierce’s Golden Medical Discovery!
This was one of the many quackery medicines being sold to the public in the late 19th and early 20th century. Dr Pierce’s medicine went the bold route and claimed to be a cure for ALL diseases. Early forms of advertisement were used, including testimonials. One particular women wrote to Dr. Pierce claiming that his medicine cured her painfully long menstrual periods and what seemed to be a urinary tract infection. The ads often targeted men, but mainly focused on women. Some of the ads claimed:
Quote:
To make a woman as jolly a wife as she was a maid by re-establishing the health of the delicate womanly organs.
While male illness was claimed to be caused by “countless minute orgasms leagued against the health of the body,” women’s ads were psychological, telling them they were fragile and ill vs. men ads, which used science and logic.
Posted in the “Chico Weekly” in Chico, California. Dec 25, 1897.
Kickapoo Indian Sagwa
In the late 19th century, many quack medicine companies would use the names of Native American tribes to promote remedies for all sorts of ailments. Back then, people were easily duped by claims of using natural cures from tribal medicine-men, but what they didn’t know was that not all could be trusted. With Kickapoo Indian Sagwa—owned by John E. Healy and Charles F. Bigelow—a remake was created of the original, telling people that it would cure constipation, liver complaint, dyspepsis, loss of appetite, chills/fever and any other disease (how convenient!)
Medical shows were held throughout different counties and the owners would even hire Native Americans (likely not from the actual Kickapoo tribe) to attend the shows and help make the cure look authentic.
Different packages were used, so finding an authentic Kickapoo Indian Sagwa cure isn’t impossible (if they were still being made). The original came in a black box, the remake is in a white box. Collect yours while supplies last!
Dr. Williams’ Pink Pills for Pale People
Another 19th to early 20th-century snake oil medicine was Dr. Williams’ Pink Pills for Pale People. It claimed to cure…
Quote:
…Chorea (known then as St. Vitus’ Dance or Locomotor Ataxia), partial paralyxia, seistica, neuralgia rheumatism, nervous headache, after effects of la grippe, palpitation of the heart, pale and sallow complexions and all forms of weakness in males or females.
Dr. Williams’ Pink Pills for Pale People was advertised in 82 countries, including America, Canada and the United Kingdom. The company was owned by G.T. Fulford & Company (founder George Taylor Fulford Sr.), which was created in 1890.
Many 19th, early 20th century drugs were fraudulent in nature, making millions of dollars in their short-lived stints. Owners would put on “commercials” during stage entertainment shows, much like what you see on television or hear on the radio. Some of the medications would contain large amounts of alcohol and actual cocaine, giving a false effect of healing.
Even medicines created to calm babies were heavily dosed with alcohol. The final hour of these quackery medicine companies were exploited by investigations conducted by a journalist named Samuel Hopkins Adams in the early 1900s, exposing 264 fraudulent firms and hucksters. The FDA was then formed in 1906, regulating medicines that were produced. The fraudsters faced no jail time and were fined to pay small amounts between $10-$50. Some hoaxes were re-created to look different and stated the medicine was regulated by the FDA.
In the 1950s, televisions became a better venue for advertisement, leaving only 10 road shows roaming about. People weren’t as naïve during this time, and by the 1960s there were no more road shows or false advertisements of the many snake oil labels that were created in early American history.
