Invisible Germe Ad Analysis

Listerine’s Power of Killing Invisible Germs The advertisement that I chose was the Listerine magazine ad, produced in the year 1959 by the Lambert Pharmacal Company. I found this ad to be most interesting because I did not know that Listerine was originally used for killing off the common cold and sore throat. The company made a number of Listerine ads to prove that the product worked on people through years of testing. Although the ad is in plain black and white, it offers a lot of significant claims as to why Listerine is a worthy product for people to purchase in contribution to their everyday health. The multiple parts of the ad such as, the picture, statistics, and summary provide proof of the product's effectiveness to its host. More
The first thing that strikes my attention is the boy standing up who is either on the verge of sneezing or coughing with a bunch of tissues in his hands. Although he has tissues in his hands to cover his germs from spreading onto anyone else, it looks more like he is about to spread these unwanted germs throughout the room defeating the whole purpose of the tissues. The boy also has his attention drawn to him by the teacher and another student because of his apparent illness. While the teacher walks to another student to help, she turns around to look at the boy with a disgusted look on her face while the student sitting next to him looks at him in the same manner. I found this kind of comical and scary at the same time because you have the teacher and the girl’s faces that very well show their feelings towards the boy’s potential germ spreading while it relays the message for parents to buy the
First, it says that gargling Listerine will help get rid of millions of germs, followed by saying that no matter the capacity of the classroom, children are exposed to many bacteria. The ad is trying to say that even though a child could be in an uncrowded classroom, they are still exposed to bacteria during the cold season. Therefore, the company believes that it is necessary to take caution by having a child gargle Listerine before and after school because the germs are invisible. The idea of gargling the product day to day implies how easy it could be for parents to get their children to kill off germs since they usually put up fights when taking medicine.
If I was a parent, the one thing that I would feel a little skeptical about after viewing this ad would be the ingredients of the product. Although the ingredients are not clearly stated anywhere on the ad, a little picture of the product shows words written underneath the product's name. After the food, drug, and cosmetic act came into play, the ingredients should be clearly stated due to United States enforcement of this law in 1938. Therefore, if I were a parent, I would have to gain more knowledge by going to the store and examining what the Listerine product contains before allowing my child to gargle