Tuesday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1908. In the first decade of the 20th century, Schlitz Brewing, then one of the largest breweries in the U.S. after the industry had shrunk from over 4,000 to around 1,500 in just 25 or so years, did a series of primarily text ads, with various themes. In this ad, which begins with this boast — “The Sturdiest peoples of the earth drink beer” — and then explains how beer drinkers are less nervous then other people, and less likely to have dyspepsia, too. Of course, while dyspepsia sounds bad, it’s just a fancy word for indigestion. The ad goes on to detail the many other ways in which drinking beer (though not drinking too much) is good for you. These are my favorite sentences. “The barley is food; the hops are a tonic. The trifle of alcohol is an aid to digestion.”
