Gypsy Creams

“health” Tag

A dying breed?

Woman's Weekly / 4th April 1969

I remember smokers’ toothpaste being a commonly advertised product when I was a child, but it seems to have been eclipsed by general tooth-whitening products nowadays. This is quite likely down to smoking being in decline in the UK, and, with the series ‘Mad Men’ reminding us that a hearty cough used to be the normal start to the day for many adults in the Western world, I thought this was a timely ad. However, it seems like we’ve exported this pleasure to developing countries such as China and India. Well done us.

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The Food-Drink of the Night…

Woman's Weekly / 4th April 1969

Cor, advertisers really made you work back in the ’60s, didn’t they? Doing their work, specifically. Horlicks is still marketed as a bedtime drink, unlike Ovaltine, but audience participation seems to be less encouraged nowadays. Jocelyn seems like a nice girl, but I couldn’t care less whether she got her secretarial qualifications, to be honest. Also, check out the sleep chart, where ‘science’ is showing us what sleep is really like, and the reassurance that Horlicks isn’t a drug. Given some of the products on the market back then, I can see what they’re getting at…

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Cheeky little bastard!

Woman's Weekly / 4th April 1969

We’ve already got an advert from the Cheese Bureau on here, but I couldn’t resist this one. She doesn’t even look fat! What this ad fails to mention is that cheese has a fat content, so may not be the ideal slimming food at all…

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Unclean! Unclean!

Woman's Realm / 6th October 1967

There’s nothing wrong with the main article here, but a couple of the questions here throw up some real facepalm moments. Firstly, there’s the woman who not only thinks cancer is an infectious disease, but also hasn’t bothered to ask her OWN MOTHER what’s wrong with her, and then there’s the poor girl who’s convinced that she’s miraculously got VD without any sexual contact.

Yes, this is now over 40 years old, but that first woman was from my mother’s generation, which I think shows how much progress we’ve made as a society where the Big C is concerned. As for the confused girl: well, I’m not so sure. There’s enough people out there who’d rather keep teenagers in that state of ignorance, sadly, and then blame them when they don’t cope with the complex and sometimes dangerous world of adult sexuality.

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Andrews

Woman's Own / 14th July 1967

Andrews for ‘inner cleanliness’? I always thought it was meant to help your body recover from over-indulgence in alcohol, rather than something you should take on a regular basis. Frankly, the link between a hangover aid and garden furniture is…interesting, to say the least.

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Another Nursing Ad

Woman's Own / 14th July 1967

I know, but I couldn’t resist. Here’s another attempt to sell nursing as anything other than a noble vocation, with salaries of £700 being waved in front of young women. Just two years later, an average weekly wage for women of £20 was being quoted in this title, which makes £1040 a year. So the nursing wage isn’t necessarily *that* amazing. You might get 6 weeks holiday a year, but a 42 hour working week means that you need it!

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Phillips’ Dental Magnesia Toothpaste

Woman's Weekly / 26th July 1957

Ah, so many questions, all of which can probably be covered by “Who? What?” and “Why?”. Yes, milk of magnesia can neutralise stomach acid, but I can only surmise that putting it in a toothpaste was a ill-thought out idea, as I’ve never heard of it being able to prevent tooth cavities. Seeing as the Wikipedia article also mentions magnesium hydroxide’s propensity to cause diarrhoea, I can only imagine that the product was quickly taken off the market due to customer, ahem, feedback…

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Elastoplast

Woman's Own / 21st March 1969

Ah, now this is another lovely advert, not only because the little girl is gorgeous, but because the shot of her is so beautifully framed as well. Her tears look a bit like snot, sadly, but this doesn’t affect the arresting effect of the advert! Look at that FACE. Don’t you want to give her a packet of Cadbury’s Buttons to cheer her up?

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Children’s Ailments

Woman's Weekly / 9th March 1957

Presumably the whooping cough vaccine was in its early days, as I don’t think a handy cut-out-and-keep guide to it would be considered necessary nowadays, a tribute to just how successful the vaccination programme has been. My mother, born in the early 1940s, survived whooping cough as a baby, which made her fortunate, but I was even more fortunate not to have to face the risk.

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Robinson’s ‘Patent’ Barley

Woman's Weekly / 19th July 1957

Personally, I count myself lucky that I live in an age where I can get lemon barley without having to open a tin, but I have to admit that I wouldn’t have known how lucky I was if it wasn’t for this advert. Milk and barley?! I wouldn’t be surprised if that had caused a few relapses…

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