Audiences have been complaining about commercial interruptions for over a century now, probably ever since the first radio commercial aired in 1922. Now there is definitely a louder chorus of grumbling over YouTube videos being interrupted by a series of ads, a few of which can be dismissed by the click of a mouse, only to be replaced by a cascade of smaller ads that spring up like children of the hydra’s teeth.*
It’s nothing new, really. Local newspapers used to do something very similar, sprinkling advertising blurbs among local news items. At its extreme the blending could be so thorough that any given line of type might be an ad, but was equally likely to be a local news tidbit, perhaps a brief mention of a neighbor who was home after a stay in the hospital, immediately followed by a line trumpeting Dr. King’s New Life Pills.
More insidious was what at first glance seemed to be a human interest story about a hard-luck case. Some anonymous, suffering citizen (usually the resident of a far-off city) had given up all hope when his health took a sudden turn for the better after being prescribed an amazing new treatment. Of course the story was simply an ad for a tonic available at a local participating pharmacy, the name of which was helpfully appended to the end of the news item. One version of the story printed in the Formoso New Era announced that curious readers could pick up a bottle of the wondrous cure-all (suitable for all family members) at Shedden’s Drug Store.
In the aftermath of the Civil War, pioneers made giant strides in the field of medicine. At the same time electricity was still a new and mysterious force, a buzzword that seemed t0 offer miracles. What if one could somehow combine the two, say, create a field of electric medicine? Well, for one thing, he stood to make a pile of money before nosy investigators started snooping around behind the curtain and spoiled everything. The AMA would indeed have something to say about the matter. Until cooler heads prevailed, there were fortunes to be made.
And so was born the Electro-Medical Institute, an early form of corporate medicine with corporate lawyers and corporate advertising budgets.
The public face of the State Electro-Medical Institute of Omaha, the dyspeptic Dr. Tolson, his portrait suggesting a cross between Grover Cleveland and Teddy Roosevelt, seems to sense impending litigation and is clearly spoiling for a fight. He would get one. The fine print at the bottom of the ad is difficult to read, but it cites impeccable references - “Best banks and leading business men of the city.” Don’t believe me? Just ask one of the bankers holding my mortgage.
Ads for Electro-Medical Institutes were seldom modest in their claims.
You have no time to lose. Consult at once the eminent physicians at the State Electro Medical Institute, who will cure you, returning you to natural health and strength. All diseases peculiar to woman, such as leucorrhea, dysmenorrhoea, prolapsus, uterpe, bearing down pains, pain in the back and loins, dropsy and all such that make life a burden, are permanently cured at the Institute.
Bladder and kidney troubles, catarrh, acute and chronic deafness a specialty; also, all blood diseases - rheumatism, excema, pimples on the face (acna), etogoitre, rupture (hernia), hemorrhoids (piles), all of which are cured by non-surgical treatment.
Tapeworm (tenia). This terrible parasite removed, head and all, in thirty minutes, by our mode of treatment. Whisky, morphine and cocaine habit quickly and permanently cured.
Although some of the Greek terms may have been misspelled, the thesis of the ad was unmistakable: running a trickle of electric current through almost anything makes it better. Let us electrocute your tapeworm while you relax in one of our state-of-the-art electric bathtubs.
Beginning in the East in the 1870’s, the Electro-Medical fad arrived in waves of popularity, each lasting only a few years. After 1910 most of the advertising budget was spent promoting road trips to smaller municipalities such as Salina, Kansas, where free treatments were provided in exchange for promised endorsements. It was probably a signal that the moment had passed for Electro-Medical healing in America.
* An allusion to “Jason and the Argonauts,” which, according to Tom Hanks and a few other fans, may be the greatest film of all time.