Treatise on the Diseases of Women

Book excerpt: The following book is an advertorial written for Lydia Pinkham's Remedies—a herbal-alcoholic "women's tonic" for menstrual and menopausal problems. Interestingly enough, though medical experts dismissed it as a quack remedy, the products are still on sale today in a modified form. This advertorial is one part of the aggressive marketing technique that her brand is known for. Long, promotional copy would dramatize "women's weakness", "hysteria" and other themes commonly referenced at the time. Pinkham urged women to write to her personally, and she would maintain the correspondence in order to expose the customer to more persuasive claims for the remedy.