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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.

Bell-cap-Sic Plasters (Front)

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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 Trade Cards advertised a product’s credibility and safety through images of animals, humans, and even other species. This was an incredibly intelligent way to attract customers because the visual appeal likely increased the general reach of a product. For example, the incorporation of children spread the idea that a product is suitable for different ages and hinted towards the idea that there is no risk involved if children themselves can handle them. Additionally, the inclusion of animals created a more friendly atmosphere for the trade cards.

For instance, Dyer’s Witch Hazel provides a specific example on how companies utilized artwork which contained both people and animals to imbue their products with a sense of innocence and harmlessness. For people, Dyer includes the fictional character of Witch Hazel, while the animal component is represented by several white birds. Since Dyer is marketing their salve as a natural product, it is important to demonstrate a cooperative link between humanity and nature. Additionally, the peaceful interaction between Witch Hazel and the birds portrayed in the artwork expresses an atmosphere of calm, relaxation, and innocence. Moreover, there is abundant use of the color white for Witch Hazel’s dress and the feathers on the birds. Since white is a color associated with purity in Western culture, the choice of color further strengthened the tranquility shown in the artwork. Overall, the people and animals in the artwork work to develop a sense of innocence when viewed. Importantly, Dyer targets a sense of innocence through the artwork in order to make their product seem harmless and safe for consumption. Making their product seem painless and without side effects is essential in boosting sales. In sum, Dyer’s Witch Hazel is an example of how advertisers use both people and animals to make their products seem innocent.

Wonder of the age [inscribed] illustrates a meadow with a small boy, a small girl, and a lamb. The purpose of the card was to advertise painless teeth extraction and elucidate the special features of the product. The card highlights how the product’s gold fillings are able to stay bright. This is foreshadowed by a farmhouse where some trees stand in the distance. The children and lamb further promote the product as they publicly display affection. Throughout the various medicinal cards, different forms of species played a critical role in advertisements.

Capturing a consumer’s eye in a capitalist consumer market is no easy task because there is massive competition for every human necessity possible. This competitiveness only increases when taking a look at the medical industry. There are hundreds of treatments and medicines for every possible pain, ailment, disease, etc. Thus, creating a product and brand that stands out is the only possible way to compete. Using species in marketing has always been effective due to the empathy that humans feel towards animals and each other. Using species can also elicit various emotions from people. A great example is “Alcool au sel de Brázay est indispensable” in which a woman is placed on the front of the card. There is no relation between the woman and the product, but she is placed there to capture the attention of male consumers. Her promiscuous features are a prime example of sexual appeal in marketing which strongly continues to work today. Another emotion that can be brought out is a sense of power which leads to belief in the product. The wizard on the front page of “St. Jacobs Oil Conquers Pain” is clearly powerful as he holds the bottle of oil in his hand. On the backside, the wizard is a frail old man discovering the oil. This creates a storyline where the oil made him a powerful wizard. This story gives consumers a reason to believe that the oil is a product that does more than it states.

Upon reviewing all of the medicine trade cards in the UCLA Library collection, it was evident that many included illustrations of young children. The image to the right (the trade card for Jayne's Tonic Vermifuge) is an example of this. In many of the trade cards, the representation of these youthful figures didn't exactly correspond with the advertised product (the product was not intended specifically for children's use). Taking this into account, it could be inferred that the abundance of illustrations in medicinal trade cards that included young children were strategic advertising strategies to either imply that their products may be safer, as the chosen representatives to market these products are, by nature, the personification of purity and innocence. The inclusion of children may have simply been a tactic to market to mothers, who were very likely the individuals expected to make purchasing decisions for the medicine in their households.

Bell-cap-sic plasters are another example of a medical product that has used the imagery of a child in its advertising. The front of the card shows a young boy, presumably a happy and healthy child, sitting next to a box with a dog on it. The image is meant to create a positive association between the product and the child's well-being. The card also includes information about the medical product being advertised, such as its benefits or how it can help the child stay healthy. Using children in advertising is a well-established marketing strategy that has been used for decades. Companies believe that children can influence their parents' purchasing decisions, and products linked to children are more likely to be purchased. Another reason why companies use children in their advertising campaigns is that children are seen as innocent, pure, and free from bias. Therefore, when a product is associated with children, it can create a positive emotional response in consumers, leading to increased brand loyalty and sales. Moreover, children have an enormous influence on their parents' decision-making when it comes to healthcare products. Parents want their children to be healthy and happy, and if a product is perceived to benefit their child's well-being, they are more likely to purchase it.In reality, children have the power to influence family purchases, particularly when directed towards them. Bell-cap-sic plasters have used this strategy effectively, selling its product to parents concerned about their children's health and pain relief.

"Dr. Mettaur's Headache Pill" is a medicine promoted to alleviate headaches. The image on this medicine card displays a picture of a sleeping baby watched over by a shaggy dog, which could appeal to parents with young children who are having trouble sleeping due to headaches. This also attracts parents looking for a solution for their children with sleeping issues. The illustrator intentionally crafted this image to appeal to parents of young children by making them feel comfortable taking this medication by providing a picture of a baby deep in sleep and not crying about its headache. This image of the sleeping baby on the card also has a significant power to trigger emotions as well. Advertising a pill with a positive image could grab the reader's attention by providing the best care for their children because parents want their children to be healthy and happy. Lastly, the illustration of the dog watching over the sleeping baby is interpreted as a sign of protection and security, which means that the child would feel safe and secure by taking this pill and that parents would not have to worry about their child not feeling safe.