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.

Vaseline (front)

40985

This page has annotations:

outline of vaseline bottle Jennifer Lay
Contents of this annotation:
1. Vaseline (front)
Shape of the Card Taylor Sullivan
Contents of this annotation:
1. Vaseline (front)

This page is referenced by:

The Perception of Purity This case study analyzing patent medicine trading cards in this collection exemplifies the perception of purity and innocence within children and women in advertisements. Further examination of Perry Davis' Pain Killer and St. Jacob's Oil advertisements represents gendered marketing and the "gentle" representations in pharmaceutical advertisements. This perception of innocence and tenderness was employed to appeal to a broader range of audiences and consumers; thus maximizing each company's profits -By Taylor Sullivan This St. Jacob's Oil patent trading card from the nineteenth century encapsulates the perception of purity and femininity used in medical advertisements during the time period. This trading card, similar to others in our group's collection, illuminates the common theme of innocence and purity to appeal to the consuming audience. The use of the woman as a centerpiece of this advertisement glorifies racialized concepts of beauty and purity. The notion of "whiteness" as conventionally beautiful and innocent also characterizes the consumer market of the late nineteenth and early 20th century. The long, healthy hair of the woman resembles youthfulness and health, thus appealing to the consumer market and endorses the illusion of youth that the medicine can provide. These marketing strategies depict the consumer desire of the time and reiterates femininity in medical advertisements.
These patent medicine trade cards from the nineteenth-century share commonalities in regard to their marketing toward pain and alleviation of pain. For example, the advertisement to the left (St. Jacobs Oil) denotes the text “conquers pain”, with the back of the card noting “the great remedy for pain”. These advertisements were made to appeal to a wide range of consumers. By marketing the products as a general pain reliever, it is evident that manufacturers wanted to allure consumers with the perception that their products would cure various forms of pain.

In relation to the Perry Davis’ Pain Killer trading card, the product is marketed for both “internal and external use”, again sharing a commonality with the St. Jacobs Oil advertisement for products that are marketed to alleviate all pain. The third card, entitled Vaseline, does not include a portrait of people included in the Perry Davis’ Pain Killer and St. Jacobs Oil’s card but is unique in the shape and design of the card. The text on the Vaseline card includes the text, “invaluable family remedy” with a list of symptoms that the product is said to “cure”. Essentially, marketable language employed to capture consumers and appeal to them as “all encompassing products” share common themes of pain remedies and cures.

The nature of the cards encompass the perception of purity, femininity, childhood, and innocence. Representations of femininity are exemplified in both the Perry Davis and St. Jacobs Oil patent medicine trading cards. Representations of gender in the advertisements are symbolic of the time period in which the cards were produced as well as societal and cultural expectations of gender which are reinforced in the advertising messages. Moreover, perceptions of racialized purity, specifically "whiteness" as purity and safety also characterize social divisions and racial prejudice in Western Culture.

Gender expression within the cards are represented in the ways the individuals in the advertisements are portrayed. For example, the young woman in the St. Jacobs Oil card is illustrated with fair complexion, rosey cheeks, long brown hair, fair blue eyes, and manicured hands. She is dressed in a pastel summer dress with subtle floral designs covering her arms. These subtle indications of femininity also solidify the perception of purity and innocence of women. In the Perry Davis’ Pain Killer advertisement, the card depicts an older male teaching a school boy and a toddler girl about the wonders of the medicine. This representation of a “school” setting during the time period illustrates the boy learning from an older male and the young girl standing in “awe” of the male figures. Thus exemplifying the divisions in gender and social norms of the time. Moreover, the toddler girl is depicted holding a toy with her arms behind her back which is representative of submissiveness and innocence. Her fair complexion, rosey cheeks, and light blond hair renders the perception of gentleness and tenderness that is associated with children, but specifically amongst young girls.

Essentially, creators and manufacturers of the Patent Medicine Trade Cards utilized various societal and cultural norms, combining attractive (and often misleading) language and imagery to appeal to a majority of customers. More specifically, individuals who identify with pain and are looking for a medicine that is advertised to cure various types of pain both internally and externally. Conclusively, the appeal to pain and gendered representations of purity and innocence as it relates to the advertisements were employed to persuade consumers of the safety of the product and its reliability.Thus, these prolific marketing strategies utilized during the Patent Medicine Card era, indicates that it must have been a success marketing strategy employed by various companies.
The Utilization of Color and Art to Advertise Various At-Home Medication This page will explore how patent medicine trade cards of the twentieth century utilized color and art in order to promote their products accordingly towards over the counter remedies for the entire home. This abstract will further analyze and identify how these patent trade cards meticulously utilized artistic marketing in order to reach a larger audience for their advertised medicinal products - By Jennifer Lay Patent Medicine Trade cards were essentially developed to become portable forms of advertisement to promote and introduce various forms of medicinal therapies and remedies. The quality and details included in these trade cards were often detailed in order to strategically advertise their products.

The three trade cards we will be examining in order to comprehend how patent medicine trade cards utilized various art forms and color in order to incite attention towards their products is “Vaseline”, “Allen's Root Beer Extract”, and “St. Jacob’s Oil Conquers Pain”. These three cards all essentially promote unconventional at-home remedies for the entire family and instead of promoting over-the-counter pills, these remedies advertise topical solutions to common ailments.

“Allen's Root Beer Extract” capitalizes on artwork in order to create a successful trade card. Like the other two patent trade cards, this card uses a child who is adorned with a bonnet and flowers to create a youthful theme to emphasize that this remedy is safe for the entire household. In the trade card, the young girl is made to be the counterpoint of the advertisement and her youthful features are emphasized through color, like her pink rosy cheeks and her pink bow; by utilizing the same color throughout the advertisement to emphasize youth and innocence, it creates an interesting and relatable advertisement for most households. By utilizing art and a picture of a young child, the card thoughtfully incites a homeopathic remedy that is geared towards all age groups.

Similarly, “St. Jacob’s Oil Conquers Pain” is also a patent medicine trade card that highlights its advertisement by heavily using the influence of color and size in order to draw attention. More specifically, the card contains a bright blue background and utilizes a stark red to contrast and highlight the Saint who is holding the oil in an angelic manner. This promotes an idea to the viewer that this product is a holy grail, and a solution that will cure most at-home illnesses.

Also, “Vaseline” essentially focuses on the coloring and shape of the trade card in order to draw attention to the advertisement of the product. For example, the Vaseline card is formatted in the shape of a Vaseline bottle and also meticulously painted in order to accurately represent the shading of the physical Vaseline bottle itself. Thus, this patent medicine trade card exemplifies how immense effort and funding was exemplified in order to create an eye-catching advertisement. Also, the card lists all the topical and medicinal remedies of the vaseline product itself to emphasize its diversity and usefulness.

Essentially, these images all come together to exemplify and accentuate the effect of utilizing color and art in order to create a successful and enticing advertisement. With the usage of children, saints, and starking color, these advertisements create an intense surge of attention. Thus, these cards are able to successfully monitor and convey the audience's attention and trust, as they now believe that these products will easily help them with their medical issues. These medical ephemera help for modern viewers to see the validity of these advertisements and how they convene with art and color to make enticing advertisements. Overall, these patent medicine trade cards cunningly take advantage of art in order to display eye-catching cards and ephemera.