The Eyes Have It

Great collection of vintage drug ads published from 1935 to 1970. Obviously, these were created long before direct-to-consumer advertising and are aimed at the medical community. It’s interesting to notice how the graphics in some of these ads seem to be intended to evoke a consumer-like emotional response in physicians who would be more likely to base decisions on the results of large, prospective, randomized, double-blind clinical trials.

[via Boing Boing]

I’ll trade you a Cryptosporidiosis and a Cyclosporiasis for two Ecoli O157:H7 Infections.

The Center for Disease Control is offering 31 disease trading cards. The cards are very nicely designed and laid out. The images are compelling. The only thing I don’t like about them is that there is no way to download all the cards at once. Each individual card is in it’s own PDF file.

If you’re in the Philadelphia area in the next few weeks, it looks like the Dali exhibit isn’t the only reason to stop by the art museum. Through June 26th, there’s also Quack, Quack, Quack: The Sellers of Nostrums in Prints, Posters, Ephemera & Books.

“This lively exhibition traces the history of the colorful purveyors of patent and quack medicines over the past four centuries. It contains seventy-five works ranging from humorous caricatures of itinerant quacks, flamboyant advertising posters, and promotional pamphlets for rival panaceas (each supported by extravagant claims of efficacy), to prints that document the first governmental attempts to curtail the more flagrant abuses.“

Some of us from work are going to be there on a “field trip” in early April. I’ll try to post a review if time allows.