Its sister product, Alka-Seltzer Plus, treats cold and flu symptoms. A wide variety of formulae, many using acetaminophen (paracetamol) instead of aspirin, are available under the sister brand.[6]
Alka-Seltzer is sold in foil packets, each containing two tablets. Prior to 1984, it was also available stacked in cylindrical glass bottles. It is available in many different flavors.
It was once marketed as a cure-all; at one time, its ads even suggested taking it for "the blahs". Subsequent promotion has taken into consideration that aspirin is a drug that is not tolerated by everyone, and the product is no longer advertised in this fashion.
Alka-Seltzer marketed as an antacid no longer contains aspirin (ASA). [8] The original effervescent formula has aspirin as its main active ingredient, and is marketed for pain relief.
Chemistry of the effervescence
Though important to the overall effect of the medication, the aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) is not required to produce the effervescent action of Alka-Seltzer; the effervescence is produced by the baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and citric acid reacting to form sodium citrate and carbon dioxide gas.[citation needed]
Two Alka-Seltzer Plus tablets next to an Alka-Seltzer Plus packet
The product has been extensively advertised since its launch in the United States. It was originally marketed by Mikey Wiseman, a company scientist of Dr. Miles Medicine Company, who also helped direct its development.
History
Print advertising was used immediately, and in 1932 the radio show Alka-Seltzer Comedy Star of Hollywood began, with National Barn Dance following in 1933, along with many more. The radio sponsorships continued into the 1950s, with the Alka-Seltzer Time show airing from 1949 to 1957.
In his 1976 revival, American actor and radio performer Richard Beals proclaimed Alka-Seltzer's virtues and sang the "Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is" song in his iconic high, squeaky voice. In the early 1960s, a commercial showing two tablets dropping into a glass of water instead of the usual one caused sales to double.[citation needed]
Alka-Seltzer TV ads from the 1960s and 1970s in the US were among the most popular of the 20th century, ranking number 13, according to Advertising Age. To increase sales in a relatively flat business, Bayer revived several of the vintage spots.[citation needed]
During the race for space in the early 1960s before the Moon landing, there was a commercial with Speedy in a space suit and a jingle with the lyrics "On Man's first trip through space, I only hope that I'm aboard, securely strapped in place. They'll track our ship with radar and telescopes and soon, imagine seeing Speedy Alka-Seltzer on the moon!"[citation needed]
George Raft starred in the 1969 Alka-Seltzer commercial "The Unfinished Lunch". It consisted of Raft incarcerated in a prison lunchroom. He takes a bite of the prison food and recoils. Suddenly he bangs his cup on the steel table. It ripples throughout the room. He starts intoning "Alka-Seltzer, Alka-Seltzer..." Soon, the other hundreds of inmates do the same. The commercial became so popular that several weeks later, Raft appeared as a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Raft told Carson that it took more than 7 hours to tape the 30-second commercial. Raft was enraged by the end of the day, thus making his inmate portrayal that much more convincing for the final editing. The film crew gave Raft his crumpled tin cup, which he showed to Carson and the audience.[citation needed]
An animated mid-1960s commercial, animated by R. O. Blechman, shows a man and his own stomach sitting opposite each other in chairs, having an argument moderated by their therapist in a voiceover. The stomach (voiced by Gene Wilder) accuses the man of purposely trying to irritate it. The man accuses his stomach of complaining too much about the foods he likes. The therapist suggests Alka-Seltzer and that the two must take care of each other. The closing words are of the stomach saying to the man: "Well, I'll try — if you will."[citation needed]
Alka-Seltzer had a series of commercials during the mid-1960s that used a song called "No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach's In)". A different version was recorded by The T-Bones and was released as a single, which became a hit in 1966. The ads featured only the midsections (no faces) of people of all shapes and sizes. A clip of the ad can be seen briefly in the 1988 motion picture The In Crowd, immediately before the movie's first live broadcast of the fictitious "Perry Parker's Dance Party."
In an Alka-Seltzer commercial from 1969, an actor named "Jack" (played by Jack Somack) in a commercial for the fictional product "Magadini's Meatballs" has to eat a meatball and then say "Mamma mia, that's-a spicy meat-a ball-a!" in an ersatz Italian accent. Take after take is ruined by some comedic trial or another (comedian Ronny Graham dropping the clapperboard). By the commercial's end, Jack has eaten so many meatballs that it's "Alka-Seltzer to the rescue." With his stomach settled, Jack does a perfect take, except that the oven door falls off. The director (off-camera) sighs and says, "OK, let's break for lunch."[9]
A 1970 commercial shows a newlywed couple in the bedroom after the woman (played by Alice Playten) has finished serving her husband (played by Terry Kiser) a giant dumpling; the implication is that her cooking skills are severely lacking, despite her husband's lament, "I can't believe I ate that whole thing!", the commercial's catchphrase. She lies on the bed in delusional triumph. She offers her beleaguered husband a heart-shaped meatloaf; he disappears to take some Alka-Seltzer. When she hears the fizzy noise coming from the bathroom, he quickly covers the glass of dissolving Alka-Seltzer as she wonders aloud if it is raining. Just when he has recovered his well-being, he hears her misreading recipes for dinner the next night: "Marshmallowed meatballs," "medium salad snails," and "pouched (actually poached) oysters". He returns to the bathroom for more Alka-Seltzer.[10] The catchphrase, Howie Cohen told the Los Angeles Times, was inspired when he ate too much of the food at a London commercial shoot because "I am a nice Jewish kid from the Bronx, so I ate everything," and when he told his wife "I can't believe I ate the whole thing", she said, "There's your next Alka-Seltzer commercial."[11]
A 1971 commercial featured another catch-phrase from Cohen (along with Bob Pasqualina), "Try it, you'll like it!" It was remade with Kathy Griffin in 2006.[12] In 1972, an actor (Milt Moss) spent the commercial moaning, "I can't believe I ate that who-o-o-o-o-ole thing" while his wife (Lynn Whinic) made sarcastic comments and finally advised him to take some Alka-Seltzer.[13] In 2005, this ad was also remade, featuring Peter Boyle and Doris Roberts from the 1996–2005 TV sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond.[14]
In 2009, the brand was featured in television commercials supporting the United States Ski Team that included alpine skier Lindsey Vonn and Nordic combined skier Bill Demong. Miniature figures of the Speedy mascot were shown with each. Alka-Seltzer products are sold in nighttime[15] and daytime, or nondrowsy,[16] formulas. The non-drowsy claims have recently been questioned.[17]
Speedy and "Plop, plop, fizz, fizz"
In 1951, the "Speedy" character was introduced. The character was conceived by creative directors Bob Watkins and Chuck Tennant of the Wade Advertising agency and designed by illustrator Wally Wood. Originally named Sparky, the name was changed to Speedy by sales manager Perry L. Shupert to align with that year's promotional theme, "Speedy Relief". Speedy appeared in over 200 TV commercials between 1954 and 1964.[18] His body was one Alka-Seltzer tablet, while he wore another as a hat.
Buster Keaton appeared along with the animated Speedy Alka-Seltzer figure in a series of 1950s commercials based on the product slogan, "Relief is just a swallow away." Speedy Alka-Seltzer was voiced by Dick Beals.
Paul Margulies (father of actress Julianna Margulies) created the famous "Plop, plop, fizz, fizz" ad campaign when he worked as a Madison Avenue ad executive. The ubiquitous jingle was composed by Tom Dawes, a former member of The Cyrkle. The slogan was altered to "Plink, plink, fizz" in the United Kingdom.[19]
Speedy was revived for a "Plop, plop, fizz, fizz" song spot in 1976.
Sammy Davis Jr., recorded two versions of the "Plop Plop Fizz Fizz" jingle in 1978, one of which (the "big band" version) was featured on a television commercial. Both the big band and rock versions had additional lyrics (with at least one verse unique to each song) written by Tom Dawes, former lead singer of The Cyrkle who wrote the original jingle.
Speedy was again revived in 2008 when Alka-Seltzer began a series of new commercials featuring him (using a CGI character created by animation director David Hulin to recreate the stop-motion puppetry of the 1950s and 1960s); in these ads, he was voiced by Debi Derryberry.[20]
An antacid is a substance which neutralizes stomach acidity and is used to relieve heartburn, indigestion, or an upset stomach. Some antacids have been used in the treatment of constipation and diarrhea. Marketed antacids contain salts of aluminum, calcium, magnesium, or sodium. Some preparations contain a combination of two salts, such as magnesium carbonate and aluminum hydroxide.
Sodium bicarbonate (IUPAC name: sodium hydrogencarbonate), commonly known as baking soda or bicarbonate of soda, is a chemical compound with the formula NaHCO3. It is a salt composed of a sodium cation (Na+) and a bicarbonate anion (HCO3−). Sodium bicarbonate is a white solid that is crystalline but often appears as a fine powder. It has a slightly salty, alkaline taste resembling that of washing soda (sodium carbonate). The natural mineral form is nahcolite, although it is more commonly found as a component of the mineral trona.
Carbonated water is water containing dissolved carbon dioxide gas, either artificially injected under pressure, or occurring due to natural geological processes. Carbonation causes small bubbles to form, giving the water an effervescent quality. Common forms include sparkling natural mineral water, club soda, and commercially produced sparkling water.
Club soda is a form of carbonated water manufactured in North America, commonly used as a drink mixer. Sodium bicarbonate, potassium sulfate, potassium bicarbonate, potassium citrate, or sodium citrate is artificially added to replicate constituents commonly found in natural mineral waters and offset the acidity of introducing carbon dioxide gas.
Trisodium citrate is a chemical compound with the molecular formula Na3C6H5O7. It is sometimes referred to simply as "sodium citrate", though sodium citrate can refer to any of the three sodium salts of citric acid. It possesses a saline, mildly tart flavor, and is a mild alkali.
A bath bomb or bath fizzie is a toiletry item used in the bath. It was invented and patented in 1989 by Mo Constantine, co-founder of Lush Cosmetics. It is a compacted mixture of wet and dry ingredients molded into any of several shapes and then dried. Bath water effervesces at the surface of a bath bomb immersed within it, with attendant dispersion of such ingredients as essential oil, moisturizer, fragrance, or colorant.
Eno is an over-the-counter antacid brand produced by Haleon. Its main ingredients are sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate and citric acid.
Richard Beals was an American actor and radio performer, who performed many voices in his career, which spanned the period from the early 1950s into the 21st century. Beals voiced "dozens of children, both male and female", according to Mark Evanier's obituary of him.
Fizzies were tablets that created a "carbonated" soft drink when added to water.
Creamola Foam was a soft drink produced in the form of effervescent crystals that were mixed with water. It was manufactured in Glasgow and sold in the UK from the 1950s, until Nestlé ended production in October 1998.
Bromo-Seltzer is a brand of antacid formulated to relieve pain occurring together with heartburn, upset stomach, or acid indigestion. It originally contained sodium bromide and acetanilide, both toxic substances which were eventually removed. Its current formulation contains the pain reliever aspirin and two reactive chemicals – sodium bicarbonate and citric acid – which creates effervescence when mixed with water. Sodium bicarbonate is an antacid.
Tolmetin is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) of the heterocyclic acetic acid derivative class.
A sodium bicarbonate rocket is a model rocket fashioned from a 35mm film canister and propelled by the pressure of a gas, often carbon dioxide, generated from the reaction of an acid with sodium bicarbonate. Sodium bicarbonate rockets are often used in science classes to demonstrate principles of chemistry and physics.
Seidlitz powders is the generic name under which a commonly known laxative and digestion regulator was marketed and sold by numerous manufacturers under names such as "Rexall Seidlitz Powders", particularly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Sherbet is a fizzy, sweet powder, usually eaten by dipping a lollipop or liquorice, using a small spoon, or licking it from a finger.
Effervescent or carbon tablets are tablets which are designed to dissolve in water and release carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide is generated by a reaction of a compound containing bicarbonate, such as sodium bicarbonate or magnesium bicarbonate, with an acid such as citric acid or tartaric acid. Both compounds are present in the tablet in powder form and start reacting as soon as they dissolve in water.
TeeVee Toons: The Commercials is a 1989 compilation album of television advertising jingles and commercials released as a spinoff to the Television's Greatest Hits series created by the record label Tee-Vee Toons, later known as TVT Records.
Tums (stylized as TUMS) is an antacid made of sucrose (table sugar) and calcium carbonate (CaCO3) manufactured by Haleon in St. Louis, Missouri, US. They are also available in a sugar-free version. It is an over-the-counter drug, available at many retail stores, including drug stores, grocery stores and mass merchandisers. It provides relief from heartburn and indigestion ("sour stomach").
James Crossley Eno was a British pharmacist known for compounding and selling a brand of fruit salt that is still popular today as an antacid.
A fruit salt or fruit salts is an effervescent compound made up of organic acids such as citric acid or tartaric acid and salts such as sodium bicarbonate, sodium carbonate, or sodium bitartrate in combination with added flavoring and sugar. Historically, fruit salts were sold for a wide range of ailments, and today they are used primarily as antacids.
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