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\u2019s 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\u2019m 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 \u201cad wars\u201d 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\u2019 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\u2019m 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 \u201880s ad age and its memorable antacid jingles: the \u201cplop, plop, fizz, fizz\u201d of Alka-Seltzer; R-O-L-A-I-D-S spells Relief; TUM-TA-TUM-TUM-TUMS.
And I don\u2019t notice that as much these days either, and thinking on it \u201cwellness\u201d foods like wheatgrass smoothies and \u201chigh-tech nutrition\u201d like MealSquares and Soylent don\u2019t really touch on digestion either; I guess the closest is \u201cprobiotic\u201d yogurt but even that\u2019s a little abstract.
And so now I\u2019m tending towards the latter suggestion there, that this stuff\u2019s 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, \u201ccorn-fed\u201d farmboys while theirs were 4\u201910\u201d stooped-over peasants.)
Just like with clothing I want to call your attention that there\u2019ve been significant quality-of-life advances in the American food sector since I\u2019ve been alive; looking back on late-\u201880s 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.
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