This site requires Javascript to be turned on. Please enable Javascript and reload the page.

America's Pastime: Patent Medicine Trade Cards on Pain Main Menu Introduction Student Projects The Power of Emotional Marketing: How Vintage Medical Trading Cards Used Children to Sell Their Products to Parents The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw the rise of patent trade medicine cards across the country. Prominent among the many marketing strategies employed were those involving child imagery. By exploring the historical juncture between child imagery and society, new insights are gained regarding the appeal of child imagery and its employment in various marketing approaches. - By Kevin Kerr, Curran Whitney-Vazquez, Chandler Warth, Samuel Sakowski, Eden Breslauer-Friedman Clothing as Tool of Expression: Utilizing Fashion in 19th Century Marketing In analyzing our group’s medicine trading cards, we were able to convey the significance of clothing throughout its relation to medicine. Various forms of clothing demonstrate symbolism towards an indvidual’s perception on medicine as well as foreshadowing the message in which the trading cards demonstrate. The various forms of clothing and stances the individuals and characters in the trading card portray indicate symbolize towards various forms of clothing and stances to highlight the social class and hierarchy of power with its purpose in medication trading cards. The way that every individual is dressed eludes to different perceptions of varying social classes as the medical epherma is not targeted to one specific group. This persuades individuals to buy the medicines and adapt to their encouraged medicine techniques. - By Brittney Abdi, Alan Torres, Jolene Matian, Zoe Rosenberg, Javier Perez Mejia Humanity, Animals, and Religion: The Metaphorical Sense of Rebirth and Apotheosis of Purity. In the late 19th and early 20th century, America saw a rise in Patent Medicine leading up to the civil war. It was a lucrative trade that encouraged individuals to cultivate their own brand and medicinal products. The rise in Patent Medicine could be explained by a multitude of factors, such as rapid increases in industry and manufacturing, urban living, the absence of drug regulation, and the lack of accessibility and distrust of contemporary medical practices. During this period, Patent medicine companies vigorously marketed their products through small, colorful cards that featured illustrations , along with information about the medicine's supposed benefits and ingredients. To persuade consumers to purchase their products, patent medicine companies utilized a variety of marketing techniques. Some of the most popular ones being the portrayal of humanity, animals, and religion to convey the notion of rebirth and purity. - By Dominic Castillo, Vanessa Jiang, Stephen Liu, Leo Martinez, Selena Quispe The Utilization of Youthful Figures, Both Humans and Animals, in Medical Trading Cards The UCLA Library Digital Collections consist of a diverse collection of Patent Medicine Trade Cards that depict historically meaningful and strategic methods of medical advertising, specifically focusing on irregular and alternative medicines. The following trade cards investigate the significance of youthful figures in medical advertisements, as seen in both humans and animals. - By India White Cloud, Shanya Rostami, Andreas Tunney, Noah Orshansky, Netaniel Daee, and Justin Vayakone The Appeal of Youth and Family in Patent Medicine Trading Cards Medical Ephemera has had a long history of using emotional tactics to appeal to its intended target audiences. One of the most prevalent motifs is that of youth and children. Through visual and written rhetoric, this theme appeals to many family oriented communities and their values. From reliability to rejuvenation, for many people children can represent what they want in a medicine. However, this era of trade cards was particularly deceitful towards audiences by using this rhetoric, yet had a significant impact on marketing tactics that are still seen and thriving today. - By Lauren Tanaka, Allison Bushong, Mollie Brown, and Garrison Hallum Innocent Imagery: A Technique of Patent Medical Trade Cards The evolution of curing pain and uplifting human welfare greatly interested the public. To help combat this suffering, medical corporations turned to advertising through Patent Medical Trade Cards. These small cards significantly helped sell medicines throughout the 19th and 20th centuries in the United States of America. Specific techniques and styles, such as Innocent Imagery, assisted in attracting the consumer to purchase the drug. For instance, harmless animals, delicate flowers, and emotional characters were critical sources of visualizing innocence. -By Lauren Heiberg, Sean Eshraghi, Bradley Reed, Camila Ramirez-Leng and Shayan Mansourian Youth as a Marketing Tactic to Relieve Pain Our group page dives into the way patent medicine trade cards have utilized youth and innocence as a marketing tactic to improve their advertisement. We have focused on UCLA library’s collection as a whole and chosen to individually select a few of the cards that best match our theme all together. This project has allowed us to study the advertisement techniques of medical cures and solutions of its time as a group. We hope our findings are as insightful to you as they are to us - By Tara Kahrobaie, Rebeca Daee, Talia Fouladian, Ashley Kohen, Nathan Darougar, Saman Khalifian The Children of Medicine: An Appeal to Consumer Emotions Our group page explores the intricacies of 19th century marketing strategies that heavily revolved around depictions of children and the youth in an attempt to psychologically appeal to the emotions of consumers in hopes of converting sales. However, we also discuss how problematic this can be, especially when the product advertisement itself is deceiving and may even pose a threat to the lives of consumers. Though effective, using the youth to advertise products can be unethical and as a result, there were different legislations enacted to combat this and different marketing strategies have evolved in conjunction with it. - By Johnny Thai, Margarita Balbuena, Ryan Nelson, Chuntao Qiu How Depictions of Women and Children Sell Medication In this page, we examine the usage of women and children portrayed on patent medicine trade cards to advertise and sell medication. Throughout this page, we employ the collection of patent medicine trade cards from the UCLA Library Digital Collections, analyzing the images and text to gain a deeper understanding of this form of advertising. - By: Jacquelyn Bakshian, Abby Kim, Tyler Maghen, David Sagizadeh, Shana Simanian, Mia Tumbaga The Influence of Innocence and Purity in Patent Medicine Trade Cards This page will explore how themes of innocence and purity were primarily utilized in patent medicine trade cards in order to generate enticing advertisements to consumers at the time. Themes of purity, innocence, and femininity entwined with the audience's perception of an ideal person, and this page will dissect how these themes were utilized to create an impactful advertisement for medical ephemera. —By Lesley Sierra, Alejandro Haro, Taylor Sullivan, Karina Tairyan, Jennifer Lay, Parinaz Kyavar The Healing and Appealing Powers of Purity and Femininity Our group page focuses on the use of femininity and purity in advertising as a means to demonstrate the efficacy of the advertised medications. Through close inspection of various Patent Medicine Trade Cards from the UCLA Biomedical Library Special Collections, our group has gained an understanding of advertising strategies and the use of cultural norms to demonstrate medicinal efficacy. Women, ideas of femininity, and purity found in nature are the central themes of our scalar book and reveal advertising strategies of medications in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These cards as well as our own individual pages will explore the complex and historically relevant themes of femininity and purity through the lens of advertising strategies of medications and medicinal products in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. - By Stephanie Zager, Ella Kitt, Megan Sparrow, Corey Gear, Neda Afsharian Parental Protective Instincts: Child Imagery in Patent Medicine Trade Cards In the late nineteenth century to early twentieth century, pharmaceutical companies established marketing strategies in which they value child imagery upon the medical trade cards. By evaluating and uncovering new insights regarding the appeal of child imagery, the selection of six cards from the UCLA’s Patent Medical Trading Card collection will elucidate its marketing values and how it appeals to buyers. By Chelsie, Adrian, Micaiah, Princess Animals used In Medicine Trade cards Our presentation focuses on the use of animals in Patent Medicine trade cards, as advertisements , essentially animals are used are marketing tools. By using animals as the main focus on the image, the companies are able to grasp the attention of the viewers. - By Aaron Kohanbash, Aaron Ezra Kohanbash, Elan Amona, Samuel Kohanteb, and Avner Shamtoub The Usage of Various Species in Advertising Medicinal Products The UCLA Patent Medicine Trade Cards expounds on medicine under a variety of labels and names through its collection of 247 patent medicine trade cards. With the variety of medical products on the market, companies utilized artwork to advertise their products to the general public. Specifically, various species and the attributes associated with them were one common theme among patent medicine trading cards. - By Hoyeol Lee, Fady Tawfik, Daniel Rabkin, Mia Kubal, Sarkis Vartanyan, and Daniel Pirian Utilizing Trade Cards as a Key Advertising Technique Trade card makers employed them as a medium to promote medical products, utilizing various advertising tactics to entice consumers and guarantee profitable sales. These marketing approaches included leveraging maternal connections, portraying children, emphasizing the product's "healing powers," and presenting visually appealing designs. By- Hannah Shaye, Yaelle Shaye, Leah Tabibi, Odelia Safadel, Ely Gabbaypour, and Arya Afgham 19th Century Remedies for Women's Daily Troubles During the 19th century, patent medicine trade cards often were marketed to women. These cards advertised products that intended to relieve ordinary women of troubles that they faced on a daily basis. Many of these products included cure-alls, medicine for mothers, and medicinal makeup, which addressed the frequent concerns women experienced regarding bodily health, motherhood, and femininity. – By Omotola Adesina, Gengjia Lin, Renateh Moradian, Grant Pate, and Brooke Vallone.

Nature's Healing Touch: The Role of Natural Imagery in Medicinal Trading Card Ephemera Advertising

40985

Each of the three cards used for this project incorporates imagery illustrating different aspects of the natural world to associate their products with the healing properties of nature - a common advertising technique in the 19th century. While each card touches on a unique feature of the natural world, conjointly they bring about a cohesive picture of the connection of medicine to nature. The first card is of Dr. Kilmer’s Prompt Parilla Liver Pills [inscribed] which illustrates a wide range of animals on the front. This particular card utilizes personification, a device of attributing human characteristics to something nonhuman. The approach projects a sense of healing and connection to nature in several different ways. Firstly, the personification of cute animals can be used to highlight the connection between humans and the natural world. By portraying animals with human-like qualities, such as intelligence or empathy, advertisers can suggest that these creatures are in tune with the natural world and therefore have the potential to offer effective remedies and healing properties. Finally, the use of cute animals can create a sense of familiarity and comfort for viewers, which can be important when promoting products related to health and wellness. Cute animals are often associated with positive emotions, a sense of innocence, and the environment, which can make viewers more receptive to the message being conveyed.

The next trade card is called Winter landscape [descriptive] by Bissell's Manufacturing Company. Using a landscape on a medical card in this fashion creates a strong relation to the idea of natural remedies and the connection between nature and healing because it creates a visual representation of the natural world, which has long been associated with healing and wellness. Throughout history, humans have relied on the natural world for remedies and cures for various ailments. Many plants, minerals, and other natural substances contain compounds that have medicinal properties, and ancient healers learned to identify and harness these compounds to create natural remedies. As a result, the natural world has become intrinsically linked with the idea of healing and wellness. By using a landscape, advertisers can tap into this association and convey a sense of natural healing to their audience. The landscape can represent the beauty and abundance of nature, highlighting its potential for providing remedies and healing properties. Additionally, the landscape can evoke feelings of peace, tranquility, and harmony, which are also associated with natural healing.

The last medical card is of a monument in Central Park, New York City of the Egyptian Obelisk, titled Vaseline [inscribed]. While this is a manmade structure, monuments and similar erections can be used to highlight the connection between human culture and the natural world. Many ancient monuments were built to align with the movements of the sun, stars, and other celestial bodies, like the obelisk symbolizing the sun god Ra, demonstrating the importance of nature in human spiritual and cultural practices. By featuring these monuments on medicinal trading card ephemera, advertisers can convey a sense of reverence and respect for the natural world, and suggest that the products being promoted are in harmony with the connection. While manmade monuments may not immediately suggest the idea of natural remedies and healing, they can be used in creative ways on medicinal trading card ephemera to highlight the connection between human culture and the natural world, and to suggest the importance of traditional knowledge and methods in developing effective remedies.

This page has paths:

The Utilization of Youthful Figures, Both Humans and Animals, in Medical Trading Cards Chien-Ling Liu Zeleny The UCLA Library Digital Collections consist of a diverse collection of Patent Medicine Trade Cards that depict historically meaningful and strategic methods of medical advertising, specifically focusing on irregular and alternative medicines. The following trade cards investigate the significance of youthful figures in medical advertisements, as seen in both humans and animals. - By India White Cloud, Shanya Rostami, Andreas Tunney, Noah Orshansky, Netaniel Daee, and Justin Vayakone
Contents of this path:
1. The Utilization of Animals to Advertise Medical Trading Cards in the 19th Century UCLA’s Patent Medicine Trade Cards collection consists of 247 advertisements for irregular and alternative medicine from the nineteenth century. This page will examine three cards from the entire exhibition, providing a small glimpse into the world of medical ephemera. The cards chosen for this project explore how different illustrations of animals were employed as a marketing tool and technique. - By India White Cloud
2. Methods of Advertisement Doctors did to Sell Pharmaceutical Drugs in the 19th Century UCLA Digital Library Collection consist of many different Patent Medicine Trade Cards. The ones that are being presented on this page show how medicine manufacturers would advertise their pharmaceutical products in the early nineteenth century. These patent medicine trade cards grabbed individuals’ attention with the illustration that was being shown. In the early nineteenth century, medicine was distributed very differently than how it is presented today. Back then, there was an illustration of animals, children, and elderlies, and now, pharmaceutical drugs do not have any illustration and just have the drug name and the dose of the medication. - By Shanya Rostami
3. Nature's Healing Touch: The Role of Natural Imagery in Medicinal Trading Card Ephemera Advertising
4. The Employment of Purity and a Carefree Nature in Medical Advertisement The UCLA Library Digital Collections showcase a variety of Patent Medicine Trade Cards that, today, serve as medical ephemera, however from a historical standpoint, were effective and common forms of medical advertisement, for irregular and alternative medicines, in particular. The three selected cards below focus on themes of purity, thus evoking a carefree nature, for specifically medical advertisements. - By Noah Orshansky
5. Herbal Medicinal Trading Cards Patent medicine trading cards were promotional materials used by medicine manufacturers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They depicted various patent medicines and their supposed benefits, often with before-and-after images or testimonials from satisfied customers. The cards were distributed as inserts in newspapers or magazines, giveaways at pharmacies, or part of a larger advertising campaign. They were popular with both children and adults, who collected and traded them as a hobby. However, their popularity declined in the early 20th century as the public became more aware of the lack of scientific evidence behind many of these medicines and the harmful ingredients they contained. Today, patent medicine trading cards are a rare and fascinating artifact of a bygone era. -By Netaniel Daee
6. Outlook of Health in the 19th Century: Fixation on Blood Purity and Removing Pain

This page references:

Use Dr. Kilmer's Prompt Parilla Liver Pills [inscribed] (front)
Use Dr. Kilmer's Prompt Parilla Liver Pills (cropped - animal personification)
Winter landscape [descriptive] (front)
Vaseline [inscribed] (front) Original trade card forms part of: Collection no. 311, History & Special Collections for the Sciences, Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library, UCLA. Card advertising Vaseline for various therapeutic uses with colored image of Egyptian obelisk on the face and on the reverse side a poem extolling the virtues of Vaseline as a cure-all and presenting it as an age-old remedy, which is in accordance with the suggested ancient theme indicated by the image of the obelisk on the face side.