Advertising Regulation
At one time, the prevailing attitude in America toward regulation of commercial speech (advertising) was summed up well in “the old common law phrase, caveat emptor, or ‘Let the buyer beware’” (Zelezny 2001, 360). Many ofthe early patent medicine ads, for example, “made outrageous claims about what they could cure” (Campbell 2000,349). Such advertising “lured the ill and suffering to build hopes on pills and tonics of questionable composition” (Nelson and Teeter 1982, 530). More particularly, Campbell writes:
Bearing names like Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound, Dr. Lin’s Chinese Blood Pills, and William Radam’s Microbe Killer, patent medicines were often made with water and 15 to 40 percent concentrations of ethyl alcohol. Onepatent medicine—Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup—actually contained morphine.(2000, 348)
It is noteworthy that “what would be termed unreliable or even fraudulent advertising was published by some of the most respectable newspapers and periodicals” (Nelson and Teeter 1982,530). In such a laissez faire atmosphere,“the liar and the cheat capitalized on glorious claims for dishonest, shoddy merchandise” (530). The public became understandably upset.
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