One of the odder Bodybuilding placements, the following 1980s advertisement features the legendary Frank Zane itching for a Pabst Blue Ribbon following a tough day in the gym. If the costumes don’t make you smile, […]
Tag: Advertising
Frank Zane’s 1980s Pabst Blue Ribbon Commercial
One of the odder Bodybuilding placements, the following 1980s advertisement features the legendary Frank Zane itching for a Pabst Blue Ribbon following a tough day in the gym. If the costumes don’t make you smile, […]
The Three Types of Manly Form
Published in the San Francisco Examiner in 1894, the above illustration depicts the Apollo Belvedere alongside the famed US boxer Peter Jackson and, of course, Eugen Sandow. Disputing the various forms of manly beauty, the response to […]
Charles Atlas and the Golden Age of American Constipation
Constipation: a condition in which there is difficulty in emptying the bowels, usually associated with hardened faeces.
Constipation may seem an odd topic of study, but the history of the condition and efforts aimed at relieving it open up interesting social, political and economic histories . From 1900 to 1940, the United States suffered a pandemic of constipation. The condition was widely acknowledged in public discourse and a thorn in the side of the medical profession. Today’s article focuses on Physical Culturist Charles Atlas’s role in promoting anti-constipation remedies. In examining Atlas’s story we will look briefly at what the medical profession had to say about the condition and what marketers were selling to consumers before examining what the ‘World’s Most Perfectly Developed Man’ had to say. It’s a story as bizarre as it is interesting.
The Three Types of Manly Form
Published in the San Francisco Examiner in 1894, the above illustration depicts the Apollo Belvedere alongside the famed US boxer Peter Jackson and, of course, Eugen Sandow. Disputing the various forms of manly beauty, the response to […]
Attention Women: Left out because you’re too skinny? Try Wate-On!
Societal pressure on women is often a talking point.
Indeed previously on this website we’ve looked at slimming crazes dating back to the early 1900s when women worldwide were encouraged to lose weight and ‘become happy’.
Well it seems that the pressure on women to conform to a certain body type works both ways as the following set of ads from the 1980s demonstrates.
Once upon a time wate-On, an artificial weight gain product, was marketed to American women concerned with being too skinny. Shown below are a series of ads detailing the Wate-On message to gain weight, be merry and most importantly, be popular.
Needless to say I’m sure the conflicting messages about being too skinny and being too large caused many a headache for the 1980s woman.
