Been thinking on this - the relative absence of the antidiarrheal ads I remember as a staple on TV growing up.

Some of that I bet has to do with dynamics on the *advertising* end - as I mentioned, the development of Immodium AD disrupted the field and left people scrambling for position; in general I bet ad spending in the medicalish category’s shifted to high-margin prescription drugs since the regulatory regime loosened up in 1997.

Also, it might be that the fracturing of audiences into targeted slices favors narrowly targeted ads over products with cross-demographic appeal, and I’m not watching the forensic procedurals, reality competitions, and Chuck Lorre sitcoms that still draw a broad general audience.

And the 1980s were the age of “ad wars” in general - from soda to pasta sauce to painkillers to beer to home gaming consoles, it was just a lot more common for TV ads to go negative on their competitors.

That probably has something to do with big broad economic trends, brand consolidation to the point where product categories are dominated by 2 or 3 competing national brands with no further room to expand except at each others’ expense, but not yet the Wal-mart consolidation of outlets that yanked profit share back to the retailer and disciplined manufacturers to compete on low cost

but

I’m remembering all the other digestive aids prominent in American culture over the years - from Victorian tonics and tinctures to Battle Creek cereals and crackers, malt shops and soda fountains back to the ‘80s ad age and its memorable antacid jingles: the “plop, plop, fizz, fizz” of Alka-Seltzer; R-O-L-A-I-D-S spells Relief; TUM-TA-TUM-TUM-TUMS.

And I don’t notice that as much these days either, and thinking on it “wellness” foods like wheatgrass smoothies and “high-tech nutrition” like MealSquares and Soylent don’t really touch on digestion either; I guess the closest is “probiotic” yogurt but even that’s a little abstract.

And so now I’m tending towards the latter suggestion there, that this stuff’s faded because it was a prop to the traditional American cuisine of gut-clogging grains and meats balanced by lubricating lipids and basically no fresh green vegetables that was the national standard up through the 1980s.

(Mind, for centuries that abundant, fatty, steak and milk diet was the pride of America and the envy of peasants worldwide making do on leaves and roots. Why our agricultural laborers were hale, hearty, “corn-fed” farmboys while theirs were 4’10” stooped-over peasants.)

Just like with clothing I want to call your attention that there’ve been significant quality-of-life advances in the American food sector since I’ve been alive; looking back on late-‘80s grocery shopping with my mom there were not only no southern hemisphere off-season fruits and vegetables but fresh domestic produce was more limited and staples came canned, frozen, or otherwise preserved. Meats were fattier, lower-quality cuts and more expensive; food costs took up a bigger share of income. Fresh prepared foods were basically nonexistent; the narrow selection of preserved prepared foods were longer in making and inferior in flavor and texture compared to modern microwave-ready.

There were more local bakeries with a wider variety of fresh pastries, though.