Strange Vintage Listerine Ads, 1912-1950
These ads are not the way we currently think of Listerine. It seems that the product had trouble finding the right use for years. Listerine was invented 134 years ago, first as a surgical antiseptic, but also as a cure for gonorrhea. An article from 1888 recommends Listerine “for sweaty feet, and soft corns, developing between the toes.” Over the course of the next century, it was marketed as a refreshing additive to cigarettes, a product for feminine hygiene, a cure for the common cold, an antiseptic for wounds and as a dandruff treatment. But it was in the 1940s that the powerful, germ-killing liquid finally found its most lucrative use as a cure for bad breath.
