Geritol

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Geritol is a US trademarked name for various supplements, past and present.[1] Geritol was introduced as an alcohol based, iron and B vitamin tonic by Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in August, 1950 and primarily marketed as such into the 1970s. Geritol was folded into Pharmaceutical's 1957 acquisition of J. B. Williams Co., founded in 1885.[2] J. B. Williams Co. was later bought out by Nabisco in 1971. Since 1982, the Geritol product name has been owned by the multinational pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline.

Geritol is currently a brand name for several vitamin complex plus iron or multimineral products in both liquid form and tablets, containing from 9.5 to 18 mg of iron per daily dose.[3] The name is derived from the root "geri-", meaning old (as in "geriatrics") with the "i" for iron. The product has been promoted from almost the beginning of the mass media era as a cure for "iron-poor tired blood". In the early 20th century, many medical doctors and other health professionals felt that much of the tiredness often associated with old age was due to iron deficiency anemia.[citation needed]

The earlier Geritol liquid formulation was advertised as "twice the iron in a pound of calf's liver," and daily doses contained ca 50-100 mg of iron as ferric ammonium citrate. The Geritol tonic also contained ca 12% alcohol and some B vitamins. The subject of years of investigation starting in 1959 by the Federal trade Commission, the FTC in 1965 ordered the makers of Geritol to disclose that Geritol would relieve symptoms of tiredness only in persons who suffer from iron deficiency anemia, and that the vast majority of people who experience such symptoms do not have such a deficiency. Although subsequent trials and appeals from 1965 to 1973 concluded some of the FTC demands exceeded its authority, Geritol's claims were discredited in court findings as "conduct amounted to gross negligence and bordered on recklessness," ruled as a false and misleading claim, and heavily penalized with fines totaling, $812,000, the largest FTC fine up to that date (1973).[4][5] However, Geritol was already well known and continued to be the largest selling iron and B vitamin supplement through 1979.

Since then, supplemental iron products, including Geritol, have been contraindicated for hemochromatosis,[6] and serious questions raised in studies for men, postmenopausal women, and nonanemic patients with liver disease, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, or cancer.[7][8] Further, the US RDA for iron is well above the intake calculation for even the population average of menstrual women, in US society where the daily heme iron intake (e.g. red meat) often grossly exceeds the individual iron requirement.

In the early days of television the marketing of Geritol was involved in the quiz show scandal, as the sponsor of Twenty-One. After that, for many years Geritol was largely marketed on television programs that appealed primarily to older viewers, such as The Lawrence Welk Show, Hee Haw, and Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour.

Geritol is often used as an emblem for old age in song lyrics, jokes, and the like. Examples:

  • George Jones rebels against stereotypical old age in the song "I don't need your rockin' chair", singing "I don't need your rockin' chair, your Geritol or your Medicare."
  • The Lemon Demon song "Samuel and Rosella" has the line "In fact right now they're blowing up the local mall, and off they hobble drunk on Geritol".
  • In the song "You're Timeless To Me" from the musical version of "Hairspray", the characters of Edna and Wilbur sing about growing old: "You'll wear a wig, while I roast a pig. Pass the Geritol!"
  • In the Family Guy episode, "Let's Go To The Hop", after Peter sings about not doing toad, he thanks Geritol for letting him live long enough to see Meg go to a dance, and taking her too.
  • In the movie Airplane! the first thing air traffic controller Steve McCroskey (Lloyd Bridges) asks for in the operations room is " A quart of Geritol and a ham on rye - no cheese!"

Contents

[edit] Popular Culture

  • Geritol and its advertising were the inspiration for the Vitameatavegamin commercial in the classic I Love Lucy episode Lucy Does a TV Commercial. The liquid Geritol tonic contained alcohol (and still does) and in the episode Lucy gets drunk after sampling the product during rehearsals.
  • In the 1970s, Geritol was famous for a series of commercials in which a man boasts of his wife's seemingly limitless energy and her many accomplishments, concluding, "My wife...I think I'll keep her." This was the inspiration for Mary Chapin Carpenter's 1992 hit, "He Thinks He'll Keep Her". [1]

[edit] See also

Hadacol

[edit] Footnotes and references

  1. ^ "SmithKline Beecham Publishes Geritol Protection Trademark," LOHAS Weekly Newsletter, September 01, 1999
  2. ^ J. B. Williams Company Records, 1853-1956. Archives & Special Collections, Thomas J. Dodd Center, University of Connecticut.
  3. ^ "Geritol Complete Information", GlaxoSmithKline, official Geritol information site for U.S. residents, 2008. accessed online 9 May 2008.
  4. ^ "Geritol's Bitter Pill" , Time, Feb. 5, 1973
  5. ^ 381 F.2d 884, "The J. B. WILLIAMS COMPANY, Inc., and Parkson Advertising Agency, Inc., Petitioner, v. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION", Respondent. No. 16969. United States Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit. Aug. 11, 1967.
  6. ^ "HEMOCHROMATOSIS: A COMMON (YET PREVENTABLE) CHRONIC DISEASE", CD Summary, Vol. 46, No. 16. August 5, 1997.
  7. ^ TF Emery (1991) Iron and Your Health: Facts and Fallacies, CRC. ISBN 0849367638
  8. ^ RB Lauffer (1992) Iron and Human Disease, CRC. ISBN 0849367794

[edit] External links