From the Dexter Leader, December 23, 1869: What area readers were sold before medicine and safety were regulated
Peruse an issue of newspapers in the late 1800s, and you quickly realize how different everyday life was, especially when it came to health and safety. The advertising columns read like a catalogue of hope, fear, and bold promises, many of them unthinkable today or, at the very least, controversial.
Medicines were largely unregulated, and advertisers took full advantage. Readers were promised a cure from consumption (tuberculosis), asthma, bronchitis, rheumatism, nervous afflictions, pimples, freckles, baldness, and “blood impurity.” One ad addressed “consumptives” directly, claiming the advertiser had been restored to health and would gladly send the prescription free of charge to anyone who inquired. The stated goal was nobly missionary to spread the cure so that every sufferer might try it, “and it will cost them nothing.”
Why give away a cure or “cure”? In many cases, the recipe itself wasn’t the endgame. Mailing lists were valuable, follow-up sales were common, and some remedies required ingredients or branded products sold separately. “Free” often meant the first hook, not the last step. The same game is played today: getting free subscriptions, trials, etc., on the internet for the price of your email address. Technology may change, but proven strategies don’t.
Other ads leaned heavily on urgency and authority. A cough syrup urged, “Mothers, Save Your Children,” warning that delay could be fatal. Hair restorers insisted that gray hair signaled decay at the root, but help was conveniently available in a single bottle. Ingredient lists, side effects, and proof were nowhere to be found. Clever marketing did the work that regulation had not yet assumed.
Even household goods reflected everyday risk. One advertisement proudly promoted a “Non-Explosive Lamp,” highlighting “absolute safety” as a selling point. The fact that this needed saying tells its own story. Kerosene lamps regularly caused fires, injuries, and deaths. A lamp that would not explode was touted as new technology.
Together, these ads show a world where personal judgment was relied on to replace regulated protection, and trust was built through bold type and persuasive prose. Remedies arrived by mail. Safety was optional. And readers navigated it all with far less protection than we have today.
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