I’ve blogged old radium-based health product ads before , but this one is a bit of a cake-stealer: the Revigator, sold in the 1920s, was a uranium-infused crock that you filled with drinking water so that it could be made radioactive prior to imbibing. The glazed ceramic jar had a porous lining that incorporated uranium ore. Water inside the jar would absorb the radon released by decay of the radium in the ore. Depending on the type of water, the resulting radon concentrations would range from a few hundred to a few hundred thousand picocuries per liter. Considerable confusion persists about the correct pronunciation of “Revigator.” The solution can be found in the question-and-answer section of a 1928 sales brochure of the Revigator Water Jar Company. The answer: “re-vig-a-tor. Accent on the vig.” Produced by the Radium Ore Revigator Company (aka the Revigator Water Jar Company) of San Francisco California. Although the address on the jar itself is 260 California Street, their headquarters were at Sutter and Taylor in the Revigator Building which is still there. Their Hayward offices were located at 519 Castro Street, and 641 Castro Street. Some of their regional offices included the following addresses: Today’s radium WTF

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Radium infuser for drinking water

Amazing to think these earrings that dangled special scratch-resistant 45RPM singles from your earlobes never caught on. From the “Now, Why Didn’t I Think Of That?” Department

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Earrings made of 45s

Mataklap sends in this picture from a Dutch toy brochure. For girls, there’s a “washing the dishes” playset. For boys, a microscope.

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Heavily gendered Dutch toy advertising

Goodness, but this is an odd ad, with weird harmonics of penile insufficiency — is that cigar just a cigar? — and the odd, anachronistic boast that a piece of “portable” electronics weighs a mere six pounds. 10 Ad Goodness Time!

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Portable TV ad: is that cigar just a cigar?

This 1946 Popular Science ad appears to be soliciting student for a tailfin and grille design course (”be an auto-stylist”), in “a course originating in dynamic Detroit.” Be A Highly Paid Auto Stylist

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Learn to design tailfins, 1946

From the annals of history, this ad for Western Electric’s picture phone, which wouldn’t catch on for decades more — probably needed more Chatroulette. It Seemed Like a Good Idea: The Picture Phone

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Early picturephone ad

Here’s an innovative automotive child-restraint system from 1961. Clearly this little tyke is enjoying her crash-webbing. Wonder why it never caught on? Contest Entry–Easybaby Car Belt, 1961

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Commendably honest ad for failed child restraint system

A great 1965 ad from Fortune asks the burning question: who is responsible for misplacing the data-tape? the case of the disappearing data (Apr, 1965)

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Which office drone misplaced the computer tape?

From the annals of poorly considered marketing campaigns, this ad for Schick razors, which touts the fact that the product is so gentle it was used to keep the horribly burned flesh of the survivors of the Hindenburg nice and smooth. Great idea: get people to associate your product with hideous disasters, terrible loss of life, and third-degree burns.

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Shick razors: sharp enough to shave the victims of terrible tragedies

A little window on the marketing and communications side of the military-industrial complex: How to Be a Retronaut’s gallery of ads for missiles and rockets. Rocket Ads, 1947-1974

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Rockets and missiles in advertising