Wednesday, October 03, 2007

An Odd Couple


I may not feel as ill as the man above, but I am absolutely dying to know what the relationship was between a French cooking magazine from the 1970s and pharmaceutical products!

Many of you joined in the fun and tried to guess what type of products were advertised in the issue of the magazine La France à Table that I wrote about last week. Although I got some pretty imaginative suggestions -- I especially liked Loulou's idea of "shotguns for hunting" -- nobody hit the mark with medicine.

What was the link? Digestion would be the obvious connection, and the magazine offered plenty of solutions for diners suffering from those infamous French crises de foie:




Not all of the ads dealt with tummy trouble, though. Any number of maladies were catered to, including depression...



...as well as some vague feminine disorder requiring "brain oxygenisation!"


All of the magazine's one-page advertisements were for medical remedies of some sort; only at the very back could I find a single, tiny ad for a food product.

Strange. Any explanations out there? Maybe from Amerloque, who seems to know so many things?

5 comments:

wcs said...

Perhaps the pharma industry was practicing for the tv commercials they currently inflict on American viewers.

If I remember, the disclaimers in these ads always last longer than the content.

Do not take this medication if you suffer from (long incomprehensible list of ailments), of if you drive, or if you are or will ever become pregnant, or if you wear sleeveless tops, or if you like green beans, or if you breathe.

Ask your doctor !

Jann said...

Hard to say~must be a result of all that wonderful French Cuisine~never bothered my stomach, though....in time, all will be revealed!

Anonymous said...

Hum? I could make something up. But I have no idea what the real reason is. Other than to have more sales and make drugs a household standard?

Katie Zeller said...

At least they look like there might be some humor.. The magazines in the U.S. are filled with 4 and 6 page drug ads all in fine print - who reads that stuff? It has to drive the doctors crazy because it's all prescription...
The French have always had a concern for their health, haven't they?

chrissoup said...

I wonder if this was a special edition for doctors' offices...