The above ad for Doan’s Backache Kidney Pills ordinarily would not have caught my attention if not for the fact that it included a testimonial from my Great x 3 Grandfather, Charles Masters. While looking for articles on Trove concerning Charles I stumbled across this ad and though initially excited at the possibility of being able to read the words of my ancestor, it soon turned to scepticism as I realised one important fact. This ad was printed in The Daily News on 5 March 1924 and in it Charles supposedly claims that:
…I can now add the important fact that I am still well, and free of the torture of backache.
At the time of print Charles had been dead for four years. Perhaps it was an old ad or perhaps Charles had written to the company previously and it wasn’t published until much later. Whatever the case it’s still incredibly amusing that Doan’s used a deceased person (claiming that he is, of all things, well) and his words (if they are indeed his words) in an ad to encourage people to buy their product.
Source:
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1924 ‘ALL PERTH RINGS.’, The Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 – 1954), 5 March, p. 2 Edition: THIRD EDITION, viewed 11 March, 2012, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article78064759
Finding Family 