Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.32903/p.9.1.3
MICROHISTORY OF HEALTH ADVERTISING: FELLER’S ELSA FLUID AND PHARMACEUTICAL ADVERTISEMENTS IN GERMAN-LANGUAGE NEWSPAPERS IN OSIJEK AT THE TURN OF THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES
Darija Kuharić
orcid.org/0000-0003-4615-0787
; Faculty of Education, J. J. Strossmayer University of Osijek
Abstract
The paper offers a microhistorical analysis of advertisements for pharmaceutical products in German-language newspapers published in Osijek at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, with particular emphasis on Feller’s Elsa Fluid. Elsa Fluid has been selected as the central case study due to its wide reach and its presence in as many as seventeen German-language periodicals, which enabled it to transcend the local setting and exemplify the formative phase of health marketing. Alongside an analysis of Feller’s advertisements, the paper compares other pharmaceutical advertisements (remedies against cholera and tapeworms) in order to identify shared marketing and bioethical strategies of the period. Special attention is devoted to narrative techniques, appeals to authority, emotional manipulation, and exaggerated claims of efficacy unsupported by scientific evidence. From a bioethical perspective, all examined advertisements are characterised by a lack of transparency, the absence of information on risks and adverse effects, and a shortage of accurate, verifiable data, which together create the potential for consumer deception and misinformation. In this way, the analysis points to broader structural problems in health advertising in the historical context under consideration.
This research domain remains markedly underexplored. A primary factor contributing to this scholarly lacuna is the prevalence of Gothic script in the relevant periodicals, which hinders researchers’ access to, legibility of, and interpretation of primary sources. Such challenges underscore the critical need for digitization projects and interdisciplinary methodologies in prospective investigations of sadvertising and pharmaceutical history within the Central European sphere. The present work advances understanding of historical medical marketing practices, advocates for ethical standards and regulatory mechanisms to safeguard consumers, and addresses a notable void in Croatian academic literature by scrutinizing underutilized archival materials.
Keywords
historical advertising; bioethics in advertising; health marketing; German-language newspapers printed in Osijek; Feller’s Elsa Fluid
Hrčak ID:
345601
URI
Publication date:
10.12.2025.
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