Magic Water and Meat Syrup: Advertising Healthcare Products in the Ottoman Press

Michael Talbot, University of St Andrews

We are constantly bombarded by advertisements marketing products purporting to cure our various afflictions. Some offer to settle our stomachs, some to shed our excess weight, some to energise our tired bodies, others to rejuvenate our skin.

As with their counterparts across the world then and now, Ottoman newspapers were peppered with advertisements promoting a huge variety of tonics, curatives, and nutritional supplements. Today, we will take a look at four such products frequently advertised in the important illustrated paper Servet-i Fünun, with the images taken from a 1903 edition.

Narzan

The first advert was part of an officially-sponsored marketing campaign by the Russian Ministry of Agriculture and Land showcasing Narzan sparkling water (featured in Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita), bottled from springs near the spa town of Kislovodsk in the Northern Caucasus.

This natural mineral water (miyâh-ı ma'deniye-'i tabî'iye), with the special added ingredient of carbonic acid (hamz-ı karbonlu), claimed to be 'really fizzy, really eupeptic and refreshing' (gayet gazlı, gayet hâzım ve müferrih). Narzan also boasted some impressive healing properties. It claimed to aid swallowing and digesting, and to help treat bladder and urinary tract infections, kidney stones, discharges, coughs, and bronchial inflammations. The simple advertising strategy was to focus on the provenance and fame of the water itself, which was all the evidence Narzan's manufacturers thought necessary to present it as an effective curative.

Odol

More focussed on scientifically proving its credentials was the German mouthwash Odol. Despite having to compete with traditional Ottoman street dentists, Odol claimed to 'eliminate all forms of decay and rotting in the mouth and on the teeth' (ağızda ve dişler arasında her türlü-ü tahlilât ve tahmirât men' eleyerek). 

Servet-i Fünun often reported on the large number of medical and scientific conferences taking place across the world, and Odol's makers sought to exploit that interest to support its claims. The advert gave evidence of Odol's success at the 1900 Conference for the Advancement of the Protection and Treatment of Teeth and an annual output of one million bottles, as proof that this was the best treatment for teeth (diş 'ilâclarına müreccah olduğu isbat edilmiştir). And, not only would it stop your teeth from rotting, but Odol had a nice smell and a great taste too (Odol'un rayihası latif ve ağızda lezzeti hoştur).

Vin de Vial

Sparkling water and mouthwash are all things we know and use. Other products from this time seem a bit more alien. Notable among them was 'Vin de Vial', a popular medicinal wine in France. In the Ottoman Empire it was marketed as 'Viyal Şurubu', with no mention of any alcoholic content.

Containing the crucial ingredients of beef extract, cinchona, and lactophosphate of lime, the syrup claimed to 'rejuvenate bodily health by giving extraordinary vigour to the body and strength to the knees' (vücude fevkalâde kuvvet ve dizlere dermân verdiği gibi sıhhat bedeniyeyi dahi tecdîd eder). It also purported to heal anaemia, jaundice, loss of appetite, diarrhoea, and stomach problems. However, probably unbeknownst to Ottoman readers, a tribunal at the district court of Châteauroux in 1892 had ruled that Vin de Vial, 'because of its method of preparation, should not be regarded as a remedy.'

Dakik-i Doktor Ziya

In an age of poor health and high mortality in general, young children suffered in particular. This final advert marketed Doctor Ziya's Flour (Dakik-i Doktor Ziya), a baby formula intended to serve as a feeding supplement for nursing mothers (süt veren vâlideleri besleme için ek) whose breastfeeding children were suffering from vomiting, diarrhoea, and dangerous diseases (meme emmekte bulunan çocuklarınızı kay' ve ishal ve tehlikeli hastalıklara duçar edilmek).

Pulling at the heartstrings of concerned parents, the advert proclaimed that 'we recommend feeding the food called "Dr. Ziya's Flour" to the children of fathers and mothers who wish to restore their child to health' (sıhhat üzere çocuk büyütmek arzu eden peder ve vâlideler çocuklarına "Dakik-i Doktor Ziya" nâm gıdâyı yedirmesini tavsiye ederiz). Put another way, parents who did not buy this formula were risking their child's life. Moreover, endorsements by the Public Health Council (Meclis-i Sahiye-i 'Umûmiye), and other Ottoman physicians (sâ'ir atibba-yı 'Osmâniye) presented this as a credible healthcare item.

These four products are just a few of those available to well-to-do Ottoman families. The high proportion of foreign brands is telling; purchasing any of these items was as much a statement of status as a healthcare choice. These advertisements show what was available to only a limited section of Ottoman society. They also demonstrate a number of similarities between then and now. Bottled waters still claim to possess special properties. Dental hygiene products still focus on their scientific credibility. Indeed, one can still find Narzan and Odol on sale.

The final two products – the last of which was still advertising in Turkish newspapers in the late 1930s – are evidence of an age when quackery exploited ignorance, readily and easily garbing itself in the theories and language of medical science. Those two particular brands may be gone, but that practice certainly continues. Perhaps the most important thing to consider when viewing these advertisements is that impressive claims about waters, curatives, and tonics were aimed at people at best concerned for their well-being, and at worst terrified by the diseases that afflicted them and their loved ones.

Source: Servet-i Fünun, 28 Ağustos 1319.

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