Ex-Lax - The uncommon cold.

I've been alive for, literally, decades. I've never heard of constipation being a symptom of a cold. The Research & Googling team managed to find some links that corroborate this allegation, so I suppose it's true enough. Apart from that, this ad for Ex-Lax offers us a pretty funny picture and some surprisingly blunt copy.

Maybe some people get constipated when they have a cold due to dehydration? I guess you lose a lot of fluids when you have a cold, which is why doctors always tell you to drink a bunch of stuff when you're under the weather. Maybe the cold-associated bodily dehydration stops the train from rollin', as it were. Wow. great post Phil. Keep up the fascinating work, genius.

Anyway, This ad is from 1947, a time when women's magazines used very delicate language to describe the simple truths of human existence. "Feeling undainty" is a phrase I read in a deodorant ad, if I recall. Apparently, the following words would have been too "indelicate" for the time:

"you stink"
"body odor"
"feel like a badger crawled into your body cavity, threw up on itself and died"
"personal trout-ish-ness".

So, it's a little surprising to see Ex-Lax trumpeting such features as a lack of "violence" in their laxative's performance. Also, they're not shy about describing your " thorough bowel movement". Wowzers!

Anyway again, the picture of the sneezing lady could potentially be useful when you're emailing in sick or something. Please enjoy a special cropped edition of her at 1000 pixel width. Click through her for the biggun. Later on, you'll thank me for all the "get well laxatives" people send you. It's all in a day's work. You're welcome.

Not big enough? Click through.