April 16, 2024 • 26 mins
Though the Pink Pills couldn't stand up to the wild advertising claims that the product was a cure-all, the pills were actually potentially medically beneficial to some people with a certain -- common -- condition; in theory. Maybe. Hey, we're not doctors. Let's talk about, how despite that, why this potentially potent patent medicine was under fire from the U.S. government.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Doctor Williams Pink Pills for Pale People were marketed as
a remedy for lots of things, as we'll see. But
one of those things was how it promised to cure anemia,
specifically the symptoms of iron deficiency anemia and chlorosis. Chlorosis
is actually a type of iron deficiency anemia, and its
hallmark is a greenish tint to your skin. Anemia was
(00:38):
commonly diagnosed in adolescent girls and women in the nineteenth century,
and common symptoms include pale skin, weakness, fatigue, dizziness, heart palpitations,
and sort of a general malaise. The pink in the name,
by the way, that was a nod to the rosy
complexion of all the cured patients who'd use the product.
(00:59):
And here's the thing, ballot, these pink pills, they may
have actually worked, maybe a little bit. Welcome to Criminalia.
I'm Maria Tremarky and I'm Holly Frye. Doctor Williams. Pink
pills for Pale People were advertised as a cure all
here's what they actually were coated in a pink colored
(01:20):
jacket of sugar, and analysis of the pills conducted in
nineteen oh nine for the British Medical Association revealed that
the pills were a combination of an iron compound and
magnesium sulfate and some sugar and a pinch of powdered licorice.
You might know magnesium sulfate as epsom salt. It's a
chemical compound made up of magnesium, sulfur and oxygen, and
(01:43):
today it's used for potential health benefits like relieving muscle pain.
The iron component is the star here. We've seen the
included iron listed in different forms on different pink pill labels,
in related pamphlets, and even in the results of government
chemical analysis. Iron oxide, citrated iron chloride, sulfate of iron,
(02:06):
and ferrous fumerate are all the potential forms. These forms
of iron are, by the way, everywhere. You'll find them
used as a colorant in cosmetics, food, personal care products, ink, paint,
and plastics, even sometimes concrete. Some sunscreens contain it for
its photoprotective properties, and you will also find it in
(02:29):
the pharmaceutical industry, including as treatment for iron deficiency anemia. Basically,
the pills were an iron supplement, which theoretically could have
benefited people with iron deficiency anemia. Though the iron content
we're talking about here was notably pretty low. Because approximately
(02:50):
one third of the iron in the pills had oxidized
in the samples that chemists used during the nineteen oh
nine analysis, they concluded that the pills had been quote
very carelessly prepared. The formula went through several changes over
the years, and one late in the game version included
ALO for its laxative properties. Like the health benefits of
(03:12):
an iron supplement for someone with anemia, This isn't bunk information. Today,
alo is used as a stimulant laxative.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
When we talk about patent medicines, it's easy to lump
them all together under an umbrella of substances that contained
dangerous ingredients. There were mostly two types of ingredients lists
for these unregulated drugs in their heyday. Some were simply
a combination of flavoring, coloring, and aromatics, and while they
(03:42):
didn't work, they weren't harmful. But others contained dangerous opiates
alcohol or strychnine, for instance, and those could be lethal
if the dosage was too high. The so called remedy
was often worse than the disease in those cases. But
those products that didn't injure or kill you, like the
Pink pills, were problematic in a different way, and that's
(04:04):
how they were advertised. Often patent medicine manufacturers did not
follow through on their health promises, and that's ultimately it.
That is what got a lot of people in trouble,
those big promises with no delivery.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Originally produced and patented in eighteen sixty six by doctor
William Frederick Jackson, who was a real physician in Ontario, Canada,
the Pink pills were promoted and marketed as a cure
for digestive problems, malaria, wound healing, and general poor mental health.
The remedy picked up more healing promises over the years
(04:42):
and was advertised in the Ventura Free Press in eighteen
ninety six as a tonic that would also cure quote
the blood and nerves to treat anemia, lack of energy, depression,
and poor appetite. By the end of the decade, advertisements
for the pills began to claim they had a lot
more benefit. They were claimed to be a restorative for
(05:02):
partial paralysis, sciatica, neuralgia, rheumatism, tension, headaches, influenza, heart palpitations,
pale and sallow complexions, all forms of weakness, either in
male or female, and all diseases resulting from the quote
pitiated humors in the blood. And that transformation of the
Pink Pills into a cu ale is due to a
(05:24):
man named George Fulford.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
George Taylor Fulford of Brockville, Ontario, Canada bought the patent
for the pills in eighteen ninety and turned them into
an international brand and a sensation. Fulford had attended business
school before apprenticing at his brother William's drug store. He
took over that business when he was twenty two years old.
Five years later, he was elected to the first of
(05:50):
what would be twelve terms as an Alderman. He didn't
enter the patent medicine trade until he was in his
mid thirties, and he certainly made an entrance. The international
success of the Pink Pills is due to the marketing
prowess of this Canadian politician, Senator George Fulford. Fulford formed G. T.
Fulford and Company in eighteen eighty seven to manufacture and
(06:13):
distribute patent medicines. Three years after opening, that company acquired
the rights to Doctor Williams Pink Pills for Pale People,
allegedly paying fifty three dollars and one cent to doctor
William Jackson for the recipe. Fulford was listed in the
Chemist and Druggist Journal as the owner of the Doctor
(06:33):
Williams Medicine Company, having purchased the patent. In fact, he
marketed the Pink Pills through the Doctor Williams Medicine Company,
which he had turned into the trading arm of G. T.
Fulford and Company, and he made a fortune within five years.
He expanded the Doctor Williams Medicine Company not only throughout
North America, but into Europe, including the United Kingdom and
(06:57):
all across the British Empire and all. He advertised the
Pink Pills and all of their healing glory in more
than eighty countries from Canada to Australia.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
We're going to take a break for a word from
our sponsors. When we're back, we'll be sharing examples of
marketing and advertising copy for the Pink Pills and how
first hand testimonials were plentiful and super important in these campaigns.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about how the marketing
and advertising of Doctor Williams pink pills worked.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Beginning in the early eighteen nineties, the publicity for the
pink pills was written by one guy, John Mackenzie, a
Canadian businessman who also had journalism experience. In eighteen ninety
two he was made manager of the medicine company and
held the position until his retirement in nineteen twenty nine.
When it comes to the pink pills, he may as
(08:04):
well have been the chemist. His copy and campaigns were
of most importance to the bottom line under his and
Fulford's watch. An early advertisement in The Venturer of Free
Press went like this. It described two men walking down
the street. One quote has a vigorous, firm, elastic step,
(08:24):
his head well up, his eyes bright, while the other
appeared to be a man quote broken in health who
had to quote whip himself to every task. Claim to
the ad, the first man had healthy nerves because they
were quote stimulated by feeding them with Doctor Williams pink pills.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
It would be remiss to not mention that Fulford launch
date huge marketing campaign for the pink pills and spent
upwards of two hundred thousand pounds on advertising in the
year nineteen hundred alone, and that is just in Britain.
The tale of this patent medicine company is less about
the ingredients of the product being a problem. It was
(09:06):
that over the top marketing and advertising campaign of lies
that finally caught the attention of federal authorities. And of
course we have examples.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
So another advertisement for the pills comes from the Maryborough Chronicle,
which recommended they be taken as a blood and energy
restorative for flu sufferers. Quote the blood is the most
dependable weapon in the fight against disease, and when the
enemy is as violent as influenza, there is no better
blood builder than Doctor William's pink pills. It was a
(09:39):
perfect time to market the pills as a cure against flu,
as the global flu pandemic of nineteen eighteen to nineteen twenty,
also known by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was raging
and deadly. While it made for great marketing campaigns, the
pills sure didn't cure the flu.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Advertisements were carefully crafted to invey all sorts of important
information to the consumer, from what these things could cure
to how to get some for yourself. One such example
is as follows quote doctor Williams Pink Pills for Pale
People have cured countless men and women of anemia, indigestion, ezema, rheumatism, sciatica,
(10:19):
Saint Vitus's Dance now known as Sydenham's qorea, neuralgia, nervous disorders,
paralysis and locomotive at taxi sold at shops. But avoid
substitutes and take care that the full name doctor Williams
Pink Pills for Pale People is on every package sold
by all chemists and druggists. An interesting illustrated pamphlet describing
(10:41):
many cures will be sent post free on application. Yes,
you could get a whole pamphlet outlining the alleged benefits
of the pink pills.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Advertisements also claimed the pills purified the blood by well
by making new blood, and this happened, it was explained
by quote, enriching the existing weak or anemic blood supply.
The pills would the copy promised quote, tone up the
nerves and increase the patient's power of using the food
he takes.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Fulford and Mackenzie's advertisement campaigns also began to target women
specifically and claimed that the pills were a remedy for
many quote female ailments. One stated that men seek quote
wholesome looking women with rosy cheeks and good health as
their future wives. The advertisement warned that without help, a
(11:33):
woman's quote regular monthly uterine action could result in a
quote pale and sallow complexion and a feeling of exhaustion.
This ad also claimed that continued use of the pills
would quote fortify the system against the ravages of the
symptoms attending menopause.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Claims of these exaggerated benefits were almost constantly in the
face of consumers, whether seen in newspapers or other print media,
or promoted by salesmen and even sometimes physicians. Another advertisement
focused on women, for instance, read quote many thin, anemic
girls and women have been wonderfully transformed by doctor Williams
(12:13):
brand pink pills. Instead of being weak, flat chested, pale
and lacking in charm, they are now bright and bonni,
with sparkling eyes, rosy cheeks, and a graceful, well proportioned form,
full of life and vitality. They are now the envy
and admiration of their friends. These happy results are easily explained.
(12:34):
Doctor Williams Pink pills contain the necessary vital elements that
create new, rich red blood. So lose no time, improve
your health and regain your lost weight. By taking a
course of Doctor Williams Pink pills, you too can gain
a graceful figure.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Fulford and Mackenzie relied quote heavily on testimonials submitted by
customers of Miraculous Recoveries printed in newspapers in such a
way that it was different dificult to differentiate news articles
from the advertisements. They kind of were early forebears of
the advertorial. For instance, Reverend Enoch Hill of the First
(13:11):
United Methodist Church of Grand Junction, Iowa, endorsed the product
in many nineteen hundreds advertisements, claiming that the pink pills
boosted his energy and cured his chronic headaches.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Another printed testimonial, this one in a British paper, read
as quote said missus Hatch, I was sickly, pale and
anemic when I was approaching the age of twenty. In
spite of all treatment, I could get no real relief.
My sister insisted I tried Doctor Williams Pink pills for
pale people, and at last I did it. Took several
(13:45):
boxes of these pills before I obtained any real relief.
Then I was encouraged by signs of improvement, and as
I continued the pills, all signs of anemia vanished. The
rheumatic pains left me, and my strength was gradually built up.
I felt younger and was in sound health. Today, I
am free from all pain, with no fears of illness.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Inside and outside the United States, marketing materials were very boasty,
and not just from satisfied customers who picked up some
pills at the local druggists. Testimonial from doctor Giuseppe Laponi,
who was chief physician to Pope Leo the thirteenth, was
held up as an example of a medical professional using
(14:28):
doctor Williams's pink pills in his practice with quote good results.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
The pink pills, it was also claimed, were a quote
miracle cure for consumption which we now know as tuberculosis.
A British advertising pamphlet for the pills, called The Queen's Gift,
published in nineteen hundred and give or take a year,
there was aimed at British colonists around the world. The
pamphlet claimed that because of quote an inspiring entrepreneurial environment,
(14:58):
doctor Williams was a to develop his pink pills a
miracle of modern medicine. The pamphlet also provided several testimonials,
of course, from grateful patients cured by the pills. Among
them was a mister Rogers, the quote first Englishman to
be cured of tubercular consumption. Knowing the ingredients those pink
(15:21):
pills were not likely what cured him, but potential customers
didn't know that.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
We're going to take a break here for a word
from our sponsors, and when we return, we'll talk more
about the big promises that patent medicine companies made and
why the pink pills may have may have worked a
little bit, possibly, but only if you had anemia.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about what happened when
the pink pill's product went up against the United States
Pure Food and Drug Act. It's probably not a spoiler
that the company lost, but maybe not for reasons you
might think.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Fulford became a wealthy man selling patent medicine around the world,
but he's sometimes remembered for quite a different and very
tragic story. Rather than hawking harmless pills. At the age
of fifty three in nineteen oh five, Fulford's vehicle was
hit by a street car and he was ejected from
the automobile on Walnut Street in Newton, Massachusetts. Fulford was
(16:35):
fatally injured, and he became the first Canadian known to
have died in an auto accident. After his death, Fulford's son,
also named George, became involved in the business.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Shortly after Fulford's death. The Pure Food and Drug Act
of nineteen oh six, also known as Wiley's Law, was
signed by United States President Theodore Roosevelt, and, as we've
seen happen in other stories of snake oil sales this season,
its very existence dimmed the popularity of many patent medicines
in the United States, including the pink pills, or it
(17:13):
made the so called medicines impossible to purchase. The Act's
purpose was to prevent the quote, manufacture, sale, or transportation
of adulterated or misbranded or poisonous or deletorious food, drugs, medications,
and liquors, with patent medicines coming under increasing scrutiny in
the early twentieth century. The law also required that active
(17:36):
ingredients be displayed on labels and a standard of purity
levels for ingredients to be set by the United States
Pharmacopeia or the National Formulary. If they didn't get you
for problematic ingredients, they could and would bring you down
for false or fraudulent advertising. And it was also a
truth in labeling law, and misbranding was a very big deal.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
The label on one still remained package of Doctor Williams
Pink Pills for pale people reads as a mail order
ad and it read quote safe and effective tonic for
the blood and nerves anemic conditions, diseases caused by or
dependent on thin, impoverished blood, and for nervous disorders resulting
from malnutrition. Useful wherever a nerving or digestive tonic is required.
(18:22):
These pills are guaranteed to contain no opiates or narcotics contents.
Forty pills price fifty cents, six boxes for two fifty
The Doctor Williams Medical Company Sconnectedy, New York and Brockville, Ontario, WT.
Hansen Company Sconnectedy, New York, US distributors. Directions inside in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian.
(18:44):
The pink pills were also sold in small numbers and
over the counter, and that helped increase both Fulford's profits,
and it made the pills available to poorer consumers who
weren't able to afford a whole expensive package all at once.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Before the new law, the proprietors did not at all
have to prove their patent medicines were effective, nor did
they have to prove anything they claimed on the label,
and to be honest, most of them didn't bother with
that after the law was enacted either, instead hedging their
bets that the government wouldn't catch up with them. In
(19:18):
nineteen sixteen, the United States government caught up with the
Doctor Williams Medical company.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Doctor Williams Pink pills were targeted not because people were
sick or dying from them, they were pretty benign, but
because of the company's outrageous claims and promises regarding the
medicine's curative qualities. Many patent medicines claimed to cure everything
from quote generalized debility to other complaints like lassitude and
(19:47):
weak stomach fibers, and all of those promises were the
key to patent medicine's success. They were the hook. What
were your other choices? If you were someone with a
health complaint waited out may a doctor for a round
of blood letting. No thank you, said many people, while
consumers didn't seem to mind the ridiculous claims that a
(20:08):
product could cure your acne and bring you back to
life and essentially put dinner on the table. Exaggerated promises
got a lot of patent medicine peddlers in trouble, a
jury found in favor of the United States government, and
all the dreams that Pink Pills promised were shattered because
shipments of the product were ordered to be destroyed.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
So did they work? Though the Pink Pills couldn't stand
up to the wild marketing claims that they were a cure,
all the pills were actually potentially medically helpful to some
people living with anemia who took them. In theory maybe, Hey,
we're not doctors here, but while the ingredients were weak,
(20:51):
they were iron supplements, which we do know is important
for the management and treatment of iron deficiency anemia. Those
testimonials may not have all been total bs.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Some people may have felt a little bit better, a
little less pale. You know what makes me feel better? Well, cocktail,
are you ready for some Cure's? What ails you, little.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Cocktail without a little rosy cheeks to my life. What
are you doing right?
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Right? Obviously I'm not reinventing the wheel. We're calling this
the pink pill. Thinking about this, it immediately put me
in mind of a drink that cracks me up and
is one that I can't imagine many people really enjoying
(21:37):
unless you just really love gin, and that is a
pink gin. A pink gin. You can buy pink gin
on the shelves now in your local liquor store. They
just have pink gins. They've gotten very popular because people
like pink things. But a pink gin was actually a
drink that was invented in the mid eighteen hundreds, which
(21:57):
is literally just two out of gin and like three
dashes of angusterra bitters, and some bartenders would thin it
a little bit with water. But unless you'd love gin,
which some people do, but I don't think a whole
lot like street gin, this is probably not a delicious drink.
But I thought that might make a good start for
(22:20):
another drink. And of course there's also that little mention
of licorice the very beginning of this episode that was
in the pills. Yeah, so I thought, how is a
way we can just low grade include some licorice flavor
in here without getting two out of control. We're gonna
start with that pink gin base. We're not gonna buy
pink gin. You don't have to. You got bitters. If
(22:42):
you don't have bitters, we have an option. It'll come
up at the mocktail. But we're gonna start with two
ounces of gin, three to four dashes of angusterra bitters.
That's what turns it pink. It has bitters have a
reddish quality to them. Angoster it does anyway, and so
that's what gives it a pink look. And then you're
gonna add, oh, just a kiss, like an eighth of
(23:02):
an ounce of anissets to get that liquorice flavor in there.
You don't want a lot more than that. It's not yummy.
It just it becomes a different drink. Then you're gonna
do between a quarter and a third of an ounce
of simple syrup or vanilla syrup, and that is to
your taste. There's no wrong way. You were gonna give
this a nice good shake with ice, make it super cold,
(23:26):
pour it over ice in like a rocks glass or
whatever glass you wish, whatever serving vessel makes you happy.
And then you'll top it with ginger ale. And the
ginger ale is the reason that I say there's not
a one right measure for the syrup, because if you're
using like a regular sugar ginger ale, you might want
to pull it back. If you're using a sugar free
you might want to pour a little more syrup in there.
(23:49):
But this fixes the problem for me of just straight gin,
and it makes it quite lovely, and that little kiss
of liquorice flavor is really quite nice, and it just
just gets a little more depth that brings out some
of the more floral notes. This is also one that,
in my opinion, this went through an uncharacteristically large number
of tests. For me, usually I'm pretty fast, I can
(24:12):
whip out a couple and I figured out this one.
Some of it was ab testing. I was like, Okay,
what if we use this gin versus this gin? What
if we made it with absinthe instead of aniset. Don't
do that, is my advice. I did not like it
at all, and I tried it with club soda instead
of ginger reel, and it just tasted a little too thin.
You need a little more flavor in there to make
(24:34):
it all work, but it is quite yummy. If you
would like to make an alcohol free pink pill, that
is very easy. We're going to do what we've been
doing for a while now and use flatonic water as
your gin substitute. Two ounces of that if you're go
okay with bitters, because some people that don't drink are
still okay with bitters because it is a tiny amount,
you can put those in. If you don't want to
(24:55):
do bitters, literally a drop of whatever red syrup you
have on hand, and if you have grenadine, great. If
you have hibiscus grade, there's not enough of it that
it's going to shift the flavor around too much, especially
when you consider that volume to the amount of gin
or fake gin in this case you have, so you're good.
Aniset syrups or liquorice syrups are pretty easy to get
a hold of, and then your simple syrup and then
(25:17):
your ginger ale. Everything is the same. So again, that's
two ounces of gin or your flattonic three to four
dashes of anguster, a bitters or one drop of the
red syrup of your choice, one eighth of an ounce
of aniset or a licorice syrup one quarter to one
third of an ounce of simple or vanilla syrup and
(25:37):
then shake it over ice, top it with ginger ale delicious.
It's not going to fix any of your ailments.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
It's definitely if you drink enough.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Of anything, you'll feel like you don't have any ailments.
Please don't be unwise, drink responsibly. But yeah, that's the
pink pill. You're still going to be an emic if
you started with anemia. That won't fix a thing, but
like I said, you might feel that. Also, if you
think you're a n ee mcplease see a doctor.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
We've lifted the sometimes the most common one.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Yeah, we are so thankful that you spent this time
with us today talking about pink pills for pale people,
which is a phrase I just love. We will be
right back here next week with another story of snake
oil and another cocktail to go with it. Criminalia is
(26:26):
a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio. For
more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, please visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Doctor Williams Pink Pills for Pale People were marketed as
a remedy for lots of things, as we'll see. But
one of those things was how it promised to cure anemia,
specifically the symptoms of iron deficiency anemia and chlorosis. Chlorosis
is actually a type of iron deficiency anemia, and its
hallmark is a greenish tint to your skin. Anemia was
(00:38):
commonly diagnosed in adolescent girls and women in the nineteenth century,
and common symptoms include pale skin, weakness, fatigue, dizziness, heart palpitations,
and sort of a general malaise. The pink in the name,
by the way, that was a nod to the rosy
complexion of all the cured patients who'd use the product.
(00:59):
And here's the thing, ballot, these pink pills, they may
have actually worked, maybe a little bit. Welcome to Criminalia.
I'm Maria Tremarky and I'm Holly Frye. Doctor Williams. Pink
pills for Pale People were advertised as a cure all
here's what they actually were coated in a pink colored
(01:20):
jacket of sugar, and analysis of the pills conducted in
nineteen oh nine for the British Medical Association revealed that
the pills were a combination of an iron compound and
magnesium sulfate and some sugar and a pinch of powdered licorice.
You might know magnesium sulfate as epsom salt. It's a
chemical compound made up of magnesium, sulfur and oxygen, and
(01:43):
today it's used for potential health benefits like relieving muscle pain.
The iron component is the star here. We've seen the
included iron listed in different forms on different pink pill labels,
in related pamphlets, and even in the results of government
chemical analysis. Iron oxide, citrated iron chloride, sulfate of iron,
(02:06):
and ferrous fumerate are all the potential forms. These forms
of iron are, by the way, everywhere. You'll find them
used as a colorant in cosmetics, food, personal care products, ink, paint,
and plastics, even sometimes concrete. Some sunscreens contain it for
its photoprotective properties, and you will also find it in
(02:29):
the pharmaceutical industry, including as treatment for iron deficiency anemia. Basically,
the pills were an iron supplement, which theoretically could have
benefited people with iron deficiency anemia. Though the iron content
we're talking about here was notably pretty low. Because approximately
(02:50):
one third of the iron in the pills had oxidized
in the samples that chemists used during the nineteen oh
nine analysis, they concluded that the pills had been quote
very carelessly prepared. The formula went through several changes over
the years, and one late in the game version included
ALO for its laxative properties. Like the health benefits of
(03:12):
an iron supplement for someone with anemia, This isn't bunk information. Today,
alo is used as a stimulant laxative.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
When we talk about patent medicines, it's easy to lump
them all together under an umbrella of substances that contained
dangerous ingredients. There were mostly two types of ingredients lists
for these unregulated drugs in their heyday. Some were simply
a combination of flavoring, coloring, and aromatics, and while they
(03:42):
didn't work, they weren't harmful. But others contained dangerous opiates
alcohol or strychnine, for instance, and those could be lethal
if the dosage was too high. The so called remedy
was often worse than the disease in those cases. But
those products that didn't injure or kill you, like the
Pink pills, were problematic in a different way, and that's
(04:04):
how they were advertised. Often patent medicine manufacturers did not
follow through on their health promises, and that's ultimately it.
That is what got a lot of people in trouble,
those big promises with no delivery.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Originally produced and patented in eighteen sixty six by doctor
William Frederick Jackson, who was a real physician in Ontario, Canada,
the Pink pills were promoted and marketed as a cure
for digestive problems, malaria, wound healing, and general poor mental health.
The remedy picked up more healing promises over the years
(04:42):
and was advertised in the Ventura Free Press in eighteen
ninety six as a tonic that would also cure quote
the blood and nerves to treat anemia, lack of energy, depression,
and poor appetite. By the end of the decade, advertisements
for the pills began to claim they had a lot
more benefit. They were claimed to be a restorative for
(05:02):
partial paralysis, sciatica, neuralgia, rheumatism, tension, headaches, influenza, heart palpitations,
pale and sallow complexions, all forms of weakness, either in
male or female, and all diseases resulting from the quote
pitiated humors in the blood. And that transformation of the
Pink Pills into a cu ale is due to a
(05:24):
man named George Fulford.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
George Taylor Fulford of Brockville, Ontario, Canada bought the patent
for the pills in eighteen ninety and turned them into
an international brand and a sensation. Fulford had attended business
school before apprenticing at his brother William's drug store. He
took over that business when he was twenty two years old.
Five years later, he was elected to the first of
(05:50):
what would be twelve terms as an Alderman. He didn't
enter the patent medicine trade until he was in his
mid thirties, and he certainly made an entrance. The international
success of the Pink Pills is due to the marketing
prowess of this Canadian politician, Senator George Fulford. Fulford formed G. T.
Fulford and Company in eighteen eighty seven to manufacture and
(06:13):
distribute patent medicines. Three years after opening, that company acquired
the rights to Doctor Williams Pink Pills for Pale People,
allegedly paying fifty three dollars and one cent to doctor
William Jackson for the recipe. Fulford was listed in the
Chemist and Druggist Journal as the owner of the Doctor
(06:33):
Williams Medicine Company, having purchased the patent. In fact, he
marketed the Pink Pills through the Doctor Williams Medicine Company,
which he had turned into the trading arm of G. T.
Fulford and Company, and he made a fortune within five years.
He expanded the Doctor Williams Medicine Company not only throughout
North America, but into Europe, including the United Kingdom and
(06:57):
all across the British Empire and all. He advertised the
Pink Pills and all of their healing glory in more
than eighty countries from Canada to Australia.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
We're going to take a break for a word from
our sponsors. When we're back, we'll be sharing examples of
marketing and advertising copy for the Pink Pills and how
first hand testimonials were plentiful and super important in these campaigns.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about how the marketing
and advertising of Doctor Williams pink pills worked.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Beginning in the early eighteen nineties, the publicity for the
pink pills was written by one guy, John Mackenzie, a
Canadian businessman who also had journalism experience. In eighteen ninety
two he was made manager of the medicine company and
held the position until his retirement in nineteen twenty nine.
When it comes to the pink pills, he may as
(08:04):
well have been the chemist. His copy and campaigns were
of most importance to the bottom line under his and
Fulford's watch. An early advertisement in The Venturer of Free
Press went like this. It described two men walking down
the street. One quote has a vigorous, firm, elastic step,
(08:24):
his head well up, his eyes bright, while the other
appeared to be a man quote broken in health who
had to quote whip himself to every task. Claim to
the ad, the first man had healthy nerves because they
were quote stimulated by feeding them with Doctor Williams pink pills.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
It would be remiss to not mention that Fulford launch
date huge marketing campaign for the pink pills and spent
upwards of two hundred thousand pounds on advertising in the
year nineteen hundred alone, and that is just in Britain.
The tale of this patent medicine company is less about
the ingredients of the product being a problem. It was
(09:06):
that over the top marketing and advertising campaign of lies
that finally caught the attention of federal authorities. And of
course we have examples.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
So another advertisement for the pills comes from the Maryborough Chronicle,
which recommended they be taken as a blood and energy
restorative for flu sufferers. Quote the blood is the most
dependable weapon in the fight against disease, and when the
enemy is as violent as influenza, there is no better
blood builder than Doctor William's pink pills. It was a
(09:39):
perfect time to market the pills as a cure against flu,
as the global flu pandemic of nineteen eighteen to nineteen twenty,
also known by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was raging
and deadly. While it made for great marketing campaigns, the
pills sure didn't cure the flu.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Advertisements were carefully crafted to invey all sorts of important
information to the consumer, from what these things could cure
to how to get some for yourself. One such example
is as follows quote doctor Williams Pink Pills for Pale
People have cured countless men and women of anemia, indigestion, ezema, rheumatism, sciatica,
(10:19):
Saint Vitus's Dance now known as Sydenham's qorea, neuralgia, nervous disorders,
paralysis and locomotive at taxi sold at shops. But avoid
substitutes and take care that the full name doctor Williams
Pink Pills for Pale People is on every package sold
by all chemists and druggists. An interesting illustrated pamphlet describing
(10:41):
many cures will be sent post free on application. Yes,
you could get a whole pamphlet outlining the alleged benefits
of the pink pills.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Advertisements also claimed the pills purified the blood by well
by making new blood, and this happened, it was explained
by quote, enriching the existing weak or anemic blood supply.
The pills would the copy promised quote, tone up the
nerves and increase the patient's power of using the food
he takes.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Fulford and Mackenzie's advertisement campaigns also began to target women
specifically and claimed that the pills were a remedy for
many quote female ailments. One stated that men seek quote
wholesome looking women with rosy cheeks and good health as
their future wives. The advertisement warned that without help, a
(11:33):
woman's quote regular monthly uterine action could result in a
quote pale and sallow complexion and a feeling of exhaustion.
This ad also claimed that continued use of the pills
would quote fortify the system against the ravages of the
symptoms attending menopause.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Claims of these exaggerated benefits were almost constantly in the
face of consumers, whether seen in newspapers or other print media,
or promoted by salesmen and even sometimes physicians. Another advertisement
focused on women, for instance, read quote many thin, anemic
girls and women have been wonderfully transformed by doctor Williams
(12:13):
brand pink pills. Instead of being weak, flat chested, pale
and lacking in charm, they are now bright and bonni,
with sparkling eyes, rosy cheeks, and a graceful, well proportioned form,
full of life and vitality. They are now the envy
and admiration of their friends. These happy results are easily explained.
(12:34):
Doctor Williams Pink pills contain the necessary vital elements that
create new, rich red blood. So lose no time, improve
your health and regain your lost weight. By taking a
course of Doctor Williams Pink pills, you too can gain
a graceful figure.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Fulford and Mackenzie relied quote heavily on testimonials submitted by
customers of Miraculous Recoveries printed in newspapers in such a
way that it was different dificult to differentiate news articles
from the advertisements. They kind of were early forebears of
the advertorial. For instance, Reverend Enoch Hill of the First
(13:11):
United Methodist Church of Grand Junction, Iowa, endorsed the product
in many nineteen hundreds advertisements, claiming that the pink pills
boosted his energy and cured his chronic headaches.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Another printed testimonial, this one in a British paper, read
as quote said missus Hatch, I was sickly, pale and
anemic when I was approaching the age of twenty. In
spite of all treatment, I could get no real relief.
My sister insisted I tried Doctor Williams Pink pills for
pale people, and at last I did it. Took several
(13:45):
boxes of these pills before I obtained any real relief.
Then I was encouraged by signs of improvement, and as
I continued the pills, all signs of anemia vanished. The
rheumatic pains left me, and my strength was gradually built up.
I felt younger and was in sound health. Today, I
am free from all pain, with no fears of illness.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Inside and outside the United States, marketing materials were very boasty,
and not just from satisfied customers who picked up some
pills at the local druggists. Testimonial from doctor Giuseppe Laponi,
who was chief physician to Pope Leo the thirteenth, was
held up as an example of a medical professional using
(14:28):
doctor Williams's pink pills in his practice with quote good results.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
The pink pills, it was also claimed, were a quote
miracle cure for consumption which we now know as tuberculosis.
A British advertising pamphlet for the pills, called The Queen's Gift,
published in nineteen hundred and give or take a year,
there was aimed at British colonists around the world. The
pamphlet claimed that because of quote an inspiring entrepreneurial environment,
(14:58):
doctor Williams was a to develop his pink pills a
miracle of modern medicine. The pamphlet also provided several testimonials,
of course, from grateful patients cured by the pills. Among
them was a mister Rogers, the quote first Englishman to
be cured of tubercular consumption. Knowing the ingredients those pink
(15:21):
pills were not likely what cured him, but potential customers
didn't know that.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
We're going to take a break here for a word
from our sponsors, and when we return, we'll talk more
about the big promises that patent medicine companies made and
why the pink pills may have may have worked a
little bit, possibly, but only if you had anemia.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about what happened when
the pink pill's product went up against the United States
Pure Food and Drug Act. It's probably not a spoiler
that the company lost, but maybe not for reasons you
might think.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Fulford became a wealthy man selling patent medicine around the world,
but he's sometimes remembered for quite a different and very
tragic story. Rather than hawking harmless pills. At the age
of fifty three in nineteen oh five, Fulford's vehicle was
hit by a street car and he was ejected from
the automobile on Walnut Street in Newton, Massachusetts. Fulford was
(16:35):
fatally injured, and he became the first Canadian known to
have died in an auto accident. After his death, Fulford's son,
also named George, became involved in the business.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Shortly after Fulford's death. The Pure Food and Drug Act
of nineteen oh six, also known as Wiley's Law, was
signed by United States President Theodore Roosevelt, and, as we've
seen happen in other stories of snake oil sales this season,
its very existence dimmed the popularity of many patent medicines
in the United States, including the pink pills, or it
(17:13):
made the so called medicines impossible to purchase. The Act's
purpose was to prevent the quote, manufacture, sale, or transportation
of adulterated or misbranded or poisonous or deletorious food, drugs, medications,
and liquors, with patent medicines coming under increasing scrutiny in
the early twentieth century. The law also required that active
(17:36):
ingredients be displayed on labels and a standard of purity
levels for ingredients to be set by the United States
Pharmacopeia or the National Formulary. If they didn't get you
for problematic ingredients, they could and would bring you down
for false or fraudulent advertising. And it was also a
truth in labeling law, and misbranding was a very big deal.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
The label on one still remained package of Doctor Williams
Pink Pills for pale people reads as a mail order
ad and it read quote safe and effective tonic for
the blood and nerves anemic conditions, diseases caused by or
dependent on thin, impoverished blood, and for nervous disorders resulting
from malnutrition. Useful wherever a nerving or digestive tonic is required.
(18:22):
These pills are guaranteed to contain no opiates or narcotics contents.
Forty pills price fifty cents, six boxes for two fifty
The Doctor Williams Medical Company Sconnectedy, New York and Brockville, Ontario, WT.
Hansen Company Sconnectedy, New York, US distributors. Directions inside in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian.
(18:44):
The pink pills were also sold in small numbers and
over the counter, and that helped increase both Fulford's profits,
and it made the pills available to poorer consumers who
weren't able to afford a whole expensive package all at once.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Before the new law, the proprietors did not at all
have to prove their patent medicines were effective, nor did
they have to prove anything they claimed on the label,
and to be honest, most of them didn't bother with
that after the law was enacted either, instead hedging their
bets that the government wouldn't catch up with them. In
(19:18):
nineteen sixteen, the United States government caught up with the
Doctor Williams Medical company.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Doctor Williams Pink pills were targeted not because people were
sick or dying from them, they were pretty benign, but
because of the company's outrageous claims and promises regarding the
medicine's curative qualities. Many patent medicines claimed to cure everything
from quote generalized debility to other complaints like lassitude and
(19:47):
weak stomach fibers, and all of those promises were the
key to patent medicine's success. They were the hook. What
were your other choices? If you were someone with a
health complaint waited out may a doctor for a round
of blood letting. No thank you, said many people, while
consumers didn't seem to mind the ridiculous claims that a
(20:08):
product could cure your acne and bring you back to
life and essentially put dinner on the table. Exaggerated promises
got a lot of patent medicine peddlers in trouble, a
jury found in favor of the United States government, and
all the dreams that Pink Pills promised were shattered because
shipments of the product were ordered to be destroyed.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
So did they work? Though the Pink Pills couldn't stand
up to the wild marketing claims that they were a cure,
all the pills were actually potentially medically helpful to some
people living with anemia who took them. In theory maybe, Hey,
we're not doctors here, but while the ingredients were weak,
(20:51):
they were iron supplements, which we do know is important
for the management and treatment of iron deficiency anemia. Those
testimonials may not have all been total bs.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Some people may have felt a little bit better, a
little less pale. You know what makes me feel better? Well, cocktail,
are you ready for some Cure's? What ails you, little.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Cocktail without a little rosy cheeks to my life. What
are you doing right?
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Right? Obviously I'm not reinventing the wheel. We're calling this
the pink pill. Thinking about this, it immediately put me
in mind of a drink that cracks me up and
is one that I can't imagine many people really enjoying
(21:37):
unless you just really love gin, and that is a
pink gin. A pink gin. You can buy pink gin
on the shelves now in your local liquor store. They
just have pink gins. They've gotten very popular because people
like pink things. But a pink gin was actually a
drink that was invented in the mid eighteen hundreds, which
(21:57):
is literally just two out of gin and like three
dashes of angusterra bitters, and some bartenders would thin it
a little bit with water. But unless you'd love gin,
which some people do, but I don't think a whole
lot like street gin, this is probably not a delicious drink.
But I thought that might make a good start for
(22:20):
another drink. And of course there's also that little mention
of licorice the very beginning of this episode that was
in the pills. Yeah, so I thought, how is a
way we can just low grade include some licorice flavor
in here without getting two out of control. We're gonna
start with that pink gin base. We're not gonna buy
pink gin. You don't have to. You got bitters. If
(22:42):
you don't have bitters, we have an option. It'll come
up at the mocktail. But we're gonna start with two
ounces of gin, three to four dashes of angusterra bitters.
That's what turns it pink. It has bitters have a
reddish quality to them. Angoster it does anyway, and so
that's what gives it a pink look. And then you're
gonna add, oh, just a kiss, like an eighth of
(23:02):
an ounce of anissets to get that liquorice flavor in there.
You don't want a lot more than that. It's not yummy.
It just it becomes a different drink. Then you're gonna
do between a quarter and a third of an ounce
of simple syrup or vanilla syrup, and that is to
your taste. There's no wrong way. You were gonna give
this a nice good shake with ice, make it super cold,
(23:26):
pour it over ice in like a rocks glass or
whatever glass you wish, whatever serving vessel makes you happy.
And then you'll top it with ginger ale. And the
ginger ale is the reason that I say there's not
a one right measure for the syrup, because if you're
using like a regular sugar ginger ale, you might want
to pull it back. If you're using a sugar free
you might want to pour a little more syrup in there.
(23:49):
But this fixes the problem for me of just straight gin,
and it makes it quite lovely, and that little kiss
of liquorice flavor is really quite nice, and it just
just gets a little more depth that brings out some
of the more floral notes. This is also one that,
in my opinion, this went through an uncharacteristically large number
of tests. For me, usually I'm pretty fast, I can
(24:12):
whip out a couple and I figured out this one.
Some of it was ab testing. I was like, Okay,
what if we use this gin versus this gin? What
if we made it with absinthe instead of aniset. Don't
do that, is my advice. I did not like it
at all, and I tried it with club soda instead
of ginger reel, and it just tasted a little too thin.
You need a little more flavor in there to make
(24:34):
it all work, but it is quite yummy. If you
would like to make an alcohol free pink pill, that
is very easy. We're going to do what we've been
doing for a while now and use flatonic water as
your gin substitute. Two ounces of that if you're go
okay with bitters, because some people that don't drink are
still okay with bitters because it is a tiny amount,
you can put those in. If you don't want to
(24:55):
do bitters, literally a drop of whatever red syrup you
have on hand, and if you have grenadine, great. If
you have hibiscus grade, there's not enough of it that
it's going to shift the flavor around too much, especially
when you consider that volume to the amount of gin
or fake gin in this case you have, so you're good.
Aniset syrups or liquorice syrups are pretty easy to get
a hold of, and then your simple syrup and then
(25:17):
your ginger ale. Everything is the same. So again, that's
two ounces of gin or your flattonic three to four
dashes of anguster, a bitters or one drop of the
red syrup of your choice, one eighth of an ounce
of aniset or a licorice syrup one quarter to one
third of an ounce of simple or vanilla syrup and
(25:37):
then shake it over ice, top it with ginger ale delicious.
It's not going to fix any of your ailments.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
It's definitely if you drink enough.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Of anything, you'll feel like you don't have any ailments.
Please don't be unwise, drink responsibly. But yeah, that's the
pink pill. You're still going to be an emic if
you started with anemia. That won't fix a thing, but
like I said, you might feel that. Also, if you
think you're a n ee mcplease see a doctor.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
We've lifted the sometimes the most common one.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Yeah, we are so thankful that you spent this time
with us today talking about pink pills for pale people,
which is a phrase I just love. We will be
right back here next week with another story of snake
oil and another cocktail to go with it. Criminalia is
(26:26):
a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio. For
more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, please visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Hosts And Creators
Holly Frey
Maria Trimarchi
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!