“Makes children and adults as fat as pigs.” – Grove Laboratories
This disturbing picture of a pig with the head of a child actually promotes a prescription for fever and chills caused by malaria. In 1878, Edwin Wiley Grove came up with a fever-remedy made from quinine but suspended in flavored syrup, so it doesn’t taste bitter.
Grove’s Tasteless Chill Tonic quickly became a household name and necessity. However, the product has an unnerving logo and slogan that would unlikely be found appealing in advertising today.
Although at the time, obesity wasn’t an issue and E.W. Grove who grew up poor probably thought he could express the fortune he made with the production of a tasteless tonic for fever and chills with the picture of a fat pig. Also, it was believed that once treated for malaria, children and adults can become “as fat as pigs.”