The Best Tonic from Pabst followed in the tradition of patent medicines, or products that companies put out that would cure health problems.
Stephen Fox in his book The Mirror Makers writes: “In the decades after the Civil War, patent medicines became the first product to be advertised on a large scale, the first to aim directly at the consumer with vivid, psychologically clever sales pitches, the first to show – for better or worse – the latent power of advertising.”
The Pabst adman A. Cressy Morrison managed the advertising for the Pabst Tonic from 1889 to 1897.
His many advertising strategies rang with a common theme: Pabst has used its skill in brewing beer to provide a beverage that offers the nutrients necessary for many health problems facing the modern woman.
Morrison, of course, had the example of decades of patent medicine advertising to serve as a model. At times he even referred to Pabst Tonic as a patent medicine.