Pain-Killer: A 19th Century Global Patent Medicine and the Beginnings of Modern Brand Marketing

Abstract

This paper examines the marketing of a so-called “patent medicine, Perry Davis’ Vegetable Pain-Killer, to suggest that many of its 19th century brand marketing practices were precursors to modern brand marketing tactics. Pain-Killer developed a distinctive brand identity through the creation and protection of several brand elements including the product itself, its name, packaging and advertising. The Pain-Killer brand also offered useful content marketing in terms of almanacs, “advertainment” consisting of a book of rhymes and pictures relating to Pain-Killer and a brand story centered in part on its inventor and founder Perry Davis. The Pain-Killer brand enjoyed decades of success reportedly selling 100 million bottles in 60 years (Bismarck Daily Tribune 1905). Ultimately, this brand disappeared because Pain-Killer became a generic product category name rather than a brand name and drug criticism and regulation limited its formulation and ability to advertise using cure-all claims.

Retracted: Consumer Marketing Brand Cultivation Path Based on Image Recognition Technology

“…The development of science and technology and the promotion of network technology have expanded the shopping space, and people's consumption patterns have also diversified. Not only are there traditional shopping models, but also online shopping models, even O2O models [38][39]. Among them, due to the development of e-commerce, people's consumption methods, consumption concepts and status have undergone major changes, which are specifically manifested in:…”

The historical approach to marketing and consumption: Contributions and research programmes

“…Who are the actors involved? These questions echo the process of legitimation for which the historical approach seems obvious (see Ivory and Genus, 2010; Petty, 2019:): for example, how does an institutionalised consumption pattern disappear? The links between product and regulation could also be the subject of more research: how does a product come to be considered harmful to the point of being restricted or even banned?…”

“…One of the challenges of institutional and historical research on markets is to identify the variety of actors (religious organisations, media, non-governmental organisations and intellectuals, see Galluzzo and Gorge, 2020; Gao, 2013; Humphreys, 2010; Sandikci and Ger, 2010; Thompson, 2004) that contribute to the legitimisation of products and practices, and the relationships that may bring them together or oppose them. From this perspective, Petty (2019) has, for example, analysed the actions of doctors and pharmacists, as well as those of the state, in the patented drug industry in the late 19th century. Thus, we can ask ourselves the following questions: who are the different actors involved in the institutionalisation processes?…”

L’approche historique en marketing et sur la consommation : apports et programmes de recherche

“…Quels sont les acteurs qui y participent ? Ces questions font écho au processus de légitimation pour lequel l'approche historique semble évidente (voir Ivory et Genus, 2010 ;Petty, 2019) : comment une pratique de consommation institutionnalisée en vientelle à disparaître ? Les liens entre le produit et la réglementation pourraient aussi faire l'objet de davantage de recherches : comment un produit en vient-il à être jugé nocif au point de faire l'objet de restrictions, voire d'interdictions ?…”