I think that the consumer was meant to draw an analogy between the condition that the Mixture was supposed to alleviate, and the distress of the kittens at having to listen to Pa Cat read out not-very-funny jokes from his Very Funny Joke Book. Pa Cat looks so pleased and so determined - and he also looks a bit like the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland (who would, at most, just smirk at Pa's jokes).
This card made me laugh, and I love cats (even when they are telling bad jokes - whatever sort of jokes are in that book, anyway? I really want to know!) - so here it is.
This amusing advertising card comes to you courtesy of the fabulous Images From the History of Medicine of the National Library of Medicine at Bethesda, Maryland. It was printed at Providence, Rhode Island by the Buker Press, and probably dates from the late 19th century. The picture of the Cheshire Cat is from Wikipedia.
6 comments:
Diarrhoea Mixture sounds wrong on every possible level.
Much like many of today's 'commercials,' the joke seems to have very little to do with the product.
Do you think Pa is sitting on the pot and the little one is ringing the bell to tell him his time is up, but he can't comply because of his horrid diarrhoea- which is probably the cause of his terrible grimace which he is trying to mask with a joke book.
mike - It certainly does!
vanilla - Yes, it is quite modern in that sense ;)
Sharkbytes - What a fascinating scenario! Maybe...
What an odd advertisement!
I mean, really weird.
I dread to think how it relates to diarrhoea!!!
LOL
They had to do something to make that product appeal to the public in some way!
Post a Comment