19th Century Remedies for Women's Daily Troubles
In addition, because women are always more concerned about their families than themselves, many advertisers will plant the concept of family in their ads so as to attract women's attention. As the picture on the left shows, there is a red house among the dense trees in sunny weather. The whole picture creates an atmosphere of nature, harmony, and happiness. It seems to suggest to women that their families can become like this if they buy and use this product.
Family wasn’t exclusively used as a marketing strategy in an idyllic sense. As seen in the image on the right, the distress or concern a woman’s ailments might cause her family could also be exploited by companies to sell their products. In this particular ad for “Wheat Bitters,” a well-dressed family sits at a table outside. A frowning father appears to be consoling the child as the mother presents the bottle of Wheat Bitters with a smile. A single glass sits directly in front of her, so we can deduce that this medicine is only meant for her. Her smile and the position of her hands suggest that she regards this medicine as a solution to her family’s woes, and other women should consider taking "Wheat Bitters" too, for the sake of their husbands and children.
Moreover, in hindsight the advertising of these remedies offers a window into how advertisers both used, and appealed to women. For example, in this image of a patent medicine trading card advertising a remedy meant for women, three women are eagerly paying attention to the advice of a doctor. The way these three women are illustrated are more likely to motivate a woman to purchase or want this remedy for their daily troubles. How then, would a women be used in advertising to appeal to men? What we see, is that they are illustrated in a contemporary way that elicits a more sexual and youthful message to attract men, in great contrast to this image. Thus, these remedies are not only a window into how women treated their daily needs, but also how they were viewed within society.
As previously stated, women were often used on Trade Cards to grasp the attention of its audiences. However, some cards, like those pictured to the left, had even more exciting aspects for advertising their remedies. For instant young restful women can be seen on the left taking an afternoon nap after a hard day of being a woman during the period. This can consist of being a mother, wife, or daughter. Her peaceful resting eyes can be seen enjoying her nap after taking Bovinine. Nevertheless, once the card is held to the light, a lady's two beautiful, energetic eyes appear in place of the resting eyes. This shows the results of the remedy and its powers—the powers to bring back the glow and joy into the eyes of a restless woman. Most important of all the use of creative and interactive designs on trade cards was a popular marketing tactic during the period. The transformation of the image on the card from a peaceful resting woman to a vibrant and lively one after using the remedy not only catches the viewer's attention but also visually demonstrates the effectiveness of the product.
A daily source of worry for 19th century women was maintaining a pleasant appearance. Capitalizing on this widespread concern, J.A. Pozzoni's Complexion Powder [inscribed] utilized the image of a simple girl to advertise the potency of the product. Even with her torn hat and basic pigtails, the young girl appears radiant due to her smooth skin. This portrayal is meant to instill a core belief: that any woman can possess beautiful and smooth skin as long as they are willing to spend money to obtain this complexion powder. This advertisement highlights how makeup was just as important as cure-alls and other kinds of medicine aimed toward women. For 19th century women, attractiveness played a decisive role in determining marriage, which profoundly impacted the lives women could lead. Thus, it was immensely important for women to ensure that their faces were always perfect. As such, trade cards such as J.A. Pozzoni's Complexion Powder advertised products that would help women enhance their beauty - for a small fee, of course.
Overall, patent medicine trade cards advertised specific products including cure-alls, medicine for mothers, and medicinal makeup specifically toward women under the pretext of remedying issues that women commonly faced. While these products served different purposes, they all relate to and reflect prevailing notions and stereotypes that characterized 19th century women. These notions suggested that it was highly important for women to maintain strong bodily health in order to dutifully be a proper wife and mother as well as always appearing beautfiul and feminine. These core tents strongly defined what it meant to be a 19th century women, and the multitude of patent medicine trade cards that promoted accessible irregular medicine to alleviate feminine pain clearly illustrates the necessity of 19th women encapsulating these beliefs.
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