Back to Home
CHAPTER 14

Feels Good On The Back

Profile picture for user mgurowi
By Margaret Gurowitz
Jan 12, 2007

Feels Good On The Back Ad

Johnson & Johnson always has understood the importance of advertising, and some of its campaigns have made their way into popular culture.  The earliest one of these was a pre-World War I ad campaign for kidney plasters, with the line “Feels Good On The Back.”   Unlike most ads of the time, which contained long explanations of the product’s benefits, the ad just said “Feels Good On The Back,” with the product name and a very soothing image of a young couple looking out to sea, with his arm around her waist.  The ad immediately struck a chord with people, and the Company was flooded with requests for reprints.  Poster-size copies of the ad were soon in drugstore windows everywhere, and people even sent in versions of the ad that they had drawn themselves, which were reprinted in the Company magazine.  The ad ran for 30 years, and was only updated once, to modernize the young woman’s clothing -- which led to complaints from people who wanted the ad exactly the way it always had been!  Consumers were free to use their own imaginations to picture the couple’s faces.  And during a time of rapid change and uncertainty in the early part of the 20th century, the picture radiated a sense of calm, comfort and peacefulness that people found very appealing.

Share this article

Full name will be displayed as entered.

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
By submitting your comments, you agree that your comments may be made available to the public. All comments will be reviewed before posting, and if approved, will be shared publicly on the site. Please do not include any information and/or comments that you would like to remain private. Since this blog is about history, topics that don’t directly relate to the history of Johnson & Johnson and its operating companies won’t be posted.. Issues not related to the history of J&J, including any product complaints, will be forwarded to the appropriate Johnson & Johnson team for follow-up as appropriate. This site will not publish any comments that have inappropriate language... so be nice! We will use the information you submit in accordance with our  Privacy Policy.