DOI: 10.1148/rg.242035157
RadioGraphics 2004;24:544-551
© RSNA, 2004
Scenes from the Past
X-ray Mania: The X Ray in Advertising, Circa 18951
Edwin S. Gerson, MD
1 From Radiology Associates of Clayton, 33 Upper Riverdale Rd, Suite 105, Riverdale, GA 30274. Presented as an education exhibit at the 2003 RSNA scientific assembly. Received June 30, 2003; revision requested July 16 and received August 20; accepted August 21. Address correspondence to the author (e-mail: egerson@comcast.net).
Index Terms: Radiology and radiologists, history
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Introduction
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It is interesting how a seemingly innocuous event can lead inexorably to a quest that consumes many hours of one’s life. Such was the case many years ago when, at a flea market, I stumbled across a sign advertising "X-ray Headache Tablets" (Fig 1). Being a naturally curious radiologist and an inveterate collector, I decided to see if I could find an actual bottle of the patent medicine. Shortly thereafter, at an antique show in central Massachusetts, I went from booth to booth, asking dealers of apothecary or country store memorabilia about X-ray Headache Tablets. One dealer from upstate New York responded that he thought he had such a bottle back at home. A few weeks later, I received a letter in which he apologized for having misled me. He had been mistaken. Instead, he had a box of X-ray Prophylactics, which I purchased (Fig 2). The question was obvious: What could x rays have to do with headache tablets or prophylactics? Thus began a quest to collect and otherwise document other "x-ray" products, dating from the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, that attempted to capitalize on the marketing potential ascribed to this new technology.
Why would an advertiser for headache pills (Fig 3) or golf balls (Fig 4) or stove polish (Fig 5) choose to put the word x ray on their products? For the same reasons that we see the word laser applied to everything from courier services to running shoes: New technologies have an appeal that reaches far into the public psyche. Nancy Knight, a historian of technology, has written about this phenomenon (1), and I have also discussed it with James Twitchell, professor of history at the University of Florida, Gainesville, and with Joseph J. Corn, professor of the history of technology at Stanford University, California. These and other writers have looked at the common mindset that responded to the x ray as a powerful, potent metaphor and at advertisers who played—in sometimes bizarre ways—off this public perception.
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Figure 5a. (a) Magazine ad for stove polish manufactured by Lamont, Corless & Company, New York. (b) Paper bag advertising the polish. (c) Full cardboard and tin can of the original product.
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Figure 5b. (a) Magazine ad for stove polish manufactured by Lamont, Corless & Company, New York. (b) Paper bag advertising the polish. (c) Full cardboard and tin can of the original product.
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Figure 5c. (a) Magazine ad for stove polish manufactured by Lamont, Corless & Company, New York. (b) Paper bag advertising the polish. (c) Full cardboard and tin can of the original product.
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One explanation for the marketing phenomenon was simply that, for at least a short period after the discovery of x rays in 1895, everything about the new rays was dazzling and fascinating to the public. Knight discussed the immediate and widespread "x-ray mania" that followed the announcement of the amazing "new light":
In the last century [19th], some futurists dreamed of great breakthroughs but could not articulate the content or form of the medical miracles. These optimists would not have to wait long for inspiration. With the discovery of x-rays, the basis for the first "miracle machine" in clinical medicine, a change occurred in medical dreams. In the first months after Roentgen’s announcement, the medical profession and the public were treated to predictions of immediate miracles. X-ray mania began early and grew quickly. People reacted to the discovery of the x-ray in [different] ways. There was an immediate popular response that spawned the sort of cultural manifestation common to fads. X-rays appeared in advertising, songs and cartoons. X-rays, many believed, would become a part of everyday culture, from henhouses to the temperance movement, from the detection of flaws in metal to the analysis of broken hearts. Hopes for the new technology reflected a wide spectrum of contemporary concerns. The public learned that x-rays might soon be used routinely for everything from diagnosing pregnancy to raising the dead. The rays represented the miracle cure that someday, with the flick of a switch, might heal a wide range of mortal ills. One author called the field of radiology a "veritable fairyland of science" in which the most extravagant hopes might someday be realized (1).
Frankly, given a brand-new technology that could see through living human flesh and even promised to be the first effective nonsurgical response to cancer, the notion that x rays might give golf balls an extra lift or bring quicker relief to a headache was not all that farfetched. The public was simply astonished with x rays, and advertisers played off this spellbound attention by adding the name to almost any type of product.
One author has noted, "The phenomenon [of] using names and/or images in advertisements that the public will recognize and even revere, even when the name or image has absolutely nothing to do with the product is common. Or at least it was common in the latter 19th and early 20th century" (Corn J, written communication, Feb 2003). Not only did the image of the x ray convey a sense of cutting-edge technology, it also functioned as a metaphor for "powerful unseen truth and strength" (Twitchell J, written communication, Jan 2003). Early radiographs were believed to see through the outer trappings of the human body to what "truly" lay within. Thomas Edison attempted to x-ray the brain "in the process of thought, and popular poetry touted the rays as a way to "see through" to the true feelings of one’s object of affection. In short, the x rays seemed magic. As one author pointed out, "That unseen forces could be operating has always been at the heart of magic and magic is at the heart of religion and religion is a parallel system to advertising" (Twitchell J, written communication, Jan 2003). The x ray was the ultimate unseen force in 1900.
Moreover, because x rays were constantly in the news, savvy advertisers could count on free publicity that not only made the name resonate with the public but seemed to provide constant new evidence of "scientific" efficacy—even for products that had nothing to do with science or medicine. It is not surprising, then, that the mystique attached to x rays would have had tremendous marketing appeal. At a time before government regulation of consumer goods, the range of products sold under the name X-RAY was truly astonishing. In addition to headache tablets, prophylactics, golf balls, and stove polish, the list includes ointment, oil, liniment (for horses and for humans), batteries, furniture polish, soap, cleaning fluid, razor blades, hones for straight razors, light shades, raisin seeders, and a host of other items (Figs 6 –25).
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Figure 23a. (a) Original letterhead stationery from East Manufacturing Company, Black Rock, NY, dated November 12, 1896, depicts the "X-Ray Raisin Seeder, The One That Seeds." (b) Raisin seeder depicted in the logo of the stationery.
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Figure 23b. (a) Original letterhead stationery from East Manufacturing Company, Black Rock, NY, dated November 12, 1896, depicts the "X-Ray Raisin Seeder, The One That Seeds." (b) Raisin seeder depicted in the logo of the stationery.
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The x ray grabbed the imagination of scientists and the public with great intensity. Scientists focused on its powers to make matter transparent and to cure illness. The public concentrated on its magical ability to see through objects and its miraculous capacity to change the world as they knew it. Together, everyone focused on the x ray as an unexpected technologic advancement that encouraged belief in other similar or even more miraculous advances. Hence, the x ray became exemplary of the better future that all might experience. The x ray extended the normal human senses and promised to improve quality of life. What product would not benefit from such subconscious association?
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References
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- Knight N. The new light: x-rays and medical futurism. In: Corn J, eds. Imagining tomorrow: history, technology, and the American future. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1986; 10-30.
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