Old-Timey Weight Loss Ads

Hey, everyone - I’ve always had a soft spot for vintage magazines, especially women’s magazines from the late 1800s through about the 1950s. They are like holding a time machine (even though the view is often quite distorted depending on the goals of the magazine).

I’m also into nutrition and fitness. So, naturally, vintage weight loss advice and advertisements are especially intriguing. I thought some of you might get a kick out some of these ads too.

These ads span almost 100 years (mid 19th to mid 20th century) and are in no particular order:

Oh yes, she knows it. That painful corset isn't fooling anyone.


Fat women are not attractive on the beach... Brutal.


You could eat less, or you can keep overeating and also host a life-sucking parasite. (At least the tapeworm is "sanitized"...?)


Slim figures though rubber garments! (And a fetish was born...)


She may have emphysema and stage 4 lung cancer, but she has a lovely figure.


More garments to allow you to spot-reduce by sweating out your unsightly fat.


Fat People... tsk.


Forget about the fat...the bigger issue appears to be that their bodies are melded together. The more I look at that illustration, the less sense it makes.


"Fat is not Good Flesh"... more harsh "telling it like it is" that would never be tolerated today.



Fat On! Fat Off! Fat On, Fat Off... the Fatter.



Old school before and after. It was a lot easier to fake these when they were just drawings.


Be slim AND paranoid.


Hey, FAT MEN (you aren't off the hook)



Hope you enjoyed!

Fun stuff ya got there.
Where's the add for the tapeworm?

The depressing part is that attitudes really haven't changed. The adds are different but the consumer is the same.
Unfortunately the pc movement toward big is beautiful is probably just as dangerous.

haha, first picture, we can read "antifa"...

Sanitized tape worms. Hmmm. Did they come in flavors? I bet you had to swallow without biting it first. Or did it go in the other way? ... :/

And fat reducing soap? Might be better than some of the new ones that can't even properly remove butter from your fingers.

Ah, the advancement of science is always nice to see, retrospectively.

a reply to: NowanKenubi

Oh!
Now I see the tape worn.
Couldnt find it on my phone.

a reply to: VegHead

Fat Off obesity cream was hilarious.
It reads:

May be used in a hot bath,
Appointments for "expert treatment" at your home,
May be made by phone or letter.

Lol..

I could use a little expert treatment myself.

YES!!! I love these vintage "medical" claims!
My avatar is a real ad (with my face cut & pasted on it) from the early 1900's.
You could say anything, sell anything, and give the worst advice, and still be called 'Doctor'
The 'Stay slim by taking amphetamine' is my favorite! That practice went on all the way into the 50's. Dexadrine, Benzodine and a few others were the housewives best friend. Men always would have a skinny wife, a spotless house, and a woman with a sex drive greater than their own.

.

I wonder if amphetamines would affect the metabolism of tapeworms?
Taken together, it could amount to fast weight loss!
The tapeworm thing reminds me of a Three Stooges episode where Curly orders breakfast and he specifies that he wants burnt toast. The waiter questions why he wants burnt toast, and Curly replies: "I have a tapeworm, and that's good enough for him".

I had to share a couple of my favorites...

I wonder if this style of advertising would have any effect on the west's current obesity epidemic.

a reply to: VegHead

Not much has changed, the message is the same the only difference is the way it is sold to us.

a reply to: Brian4real

Surprisingly, tobacco is good for asthma as it helps opening the lungs (bronchis) for better breathing. And it doesn't have a cumulatively bad effect on lungs like Ventolin, which hardens the bronchis. Of course, I mean tobacco itself, not the 3000+ chemicals they added overtime for our protection and benefice...

I should know, my asthma attacks nearly disappeared once I started smoking, and many asthma sufferers I know smoke and say the same thing.

"FAT OFF"

Pure marketing genius!

I like the anti-fat one. I automatically thought of Antifa. I looked at the picture of the skinny one and saw a radicalized liberal. Both pictures on that whether fat or skinny have a woman who looks cranky.

a reply to: NowanKenubi

I suffered from childhood asthma along with allergies to everything. When I turned 13-14, it just disappeared. Ironically, I was 'experimenting' with smoking at the time...

originally posted by: Brian4real
I had to share a couple of my favorites...

No! 😆😆
I've seen these ads and I just can't comment on my Grandparents and GreatGP's generation of
Remedies. But now i can't get The Joker(Jack Nicholson) saying "This town needs an Enema" out of my head.😁



Dear ATS,
BTW... I love a Lady with some squish. Short, chubby with little feet.😚

Here's another old timey.
7UP mixed in with milk. I hope the carbon was removed. Or the milk should have foamed.😊



Edit: here's mouthwash. 😉

Amphetamines are still used! Just not so blatantly put out there.
Look up Adipex. And US fighter pilots take Go Pills (guess what they are)

a reply to: Bluntone22

What a good coincidence! Someone showed me the ad for tape worms yesterday.

Lose weight in double time! Have TWO tapeworms!!

ETA - I'd sooner have that 'rectorometer' in my ass than a 10 foot tapeworm.

originally posted by: Kandinsky
a reply to: Bluntone22

What a good coincidence! Someone showed me the ad for tape worms yesterday.

Lose weight in double time! Have TWO tapeworms!!

ETA - I'd sooner have that 'rectorometer' in my ass than a 10 foot tapeworm.

😂😂😂