Advertising anxiety: Lucozade narratives in the 1939 newspaper promotion campaign

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ABSTRACT Lucozade is a British soft drink consisting of flavoured glucose that has very specific clinical origins but has more generally been associated with convalescence. That name was first used in 1929 and, over the years, the product has undergone metamorphoses to survive changed social and economic circumstances. From a largely local success in the north-east of England, much wider recognition can be attributed to a concerted newspaper advertising campaign in 1939 which extended a narrative of relief, and the prospect of cure, from ill-defined health afflictions. This promotion featured the techniques long-established for tonic preparations. Using the British Library Newspaper Archive, participating print titles were identified as were the complete range of Lucozade advertisements used there. The scale and scope of these presentational efforts can be illustrated. From February to December 1939, town and regional newspaper titles across England, Scotland and Wales were used to advertise 37 different problem scenarios with the consistent message of Lucozade’s effectiveness, and the suggestion of medical endorsement far beyond those clinical origins.