Life is pretty awesome, so it stands to reason that people
have wanted to stick around to enjoy it. To that end, much effort has been
dedicated in the course of human history towards finding or creating magical
elixirs which could either extend life or provide immortality.
The ancient Chinese thought the answer lay in long-lasting
precious stones and metals, and alchemists set out to discover which could be
manipulated into a substance to transfer their properties to whomever ingested them.
Sadly, their early efforts focused quite heavily upon mercury, which is such an
odd element it was often thought an alchemical key, and delicious-looking
besides. Being exceedingly toxic, it killed many Emperors for a surprisingly
long time. You’d think word would get around: don’t drink the silvery drink, but apparently not.
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| Ming Dynasty Emperor Jiajing, who survived an assassination attempt by his concubines, all of whom were ordered executed by "the slow slicing method" (lingchi - do yourself a favor and DO NOT look this up) and their families also killed, only to die of mercury poisoning in his quest for the fabled Elixir of Life. |
It is no surprise that the promise of longer life has always
been a major tool in the huckster’s repertoire; after all, the actual efficacy
of the potion can’t be measured until long after its seller has left town.
In 1973, the Dannon company decided to use this tried and
true approach to increase the public interest in yogurt, so embarked on what
became a highly successful advertising campaign linking long life to their
product. It was called “In Soviet Georgia,” and featured various robust, active
peasants of reportedly great age (their names and ages were given as an
indicator of veracity) who, it was claimed, owed their longevity to eating
yogurt. This was quite a daring stance to take during the Cold War, but it
helped that the people in the ads wore traditional garb and didn’t look like
typical soviet politicians and babushkas.
Perhaps wary of being too closely linked with the charlatans
of old also promising long life, the ads declared prominently that their yogurt
might not actually cause you to live longer than you otherwise would (and thus
saved them from claims of false advertising), but strongly suggested that it
“couldn’t hurt.” Millions agreed, and adopted it into their diets.
Nowadays, yogurt is no longer promoted with claims of a
longer life, but of a more digestively comfortable one. Either way, it’s sold
less as a food than as a medicine.
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| Dannon recently settled a $21 million lawsuit over exaggerated claims about the health benefits of its Activia yogurt. |
In Soviet Georgia ad, the Dannon Company, 1977
