If the film “The Graduate” was set in 1920. Action!
Mr. McGuire: Come with me for a minute. I want to tell you something.
(He leads you away from the main party and onto an outdoor patio.)
Mr. McGuire: I just want to say one word to you. Just one word.
You: Yes, sir?
Mr. McGuire: Yeast. There’s a great future in yeast. Think about it. Will you think about it?
You: Yes, I will.
Sometimes I look to the past for inspiration. Like here on Page 84 from the July 26, 1925, New York Times. The ad fills up more than three-quarters of the page and includes four photographs.
The photos, which look like they have been staged or produced with AI, depict a mining prospector, two smiling women, a dapper gentleman in a tuxedo and a burly man looking out from the cab of his truck.
Each has endured constipation, bad skin and other debilitating ailments. And each has found relief by taking daily doses of Fleischmann’s Yeast Cakes.
Here are their testimonials — edited for brevity’s sake.
Prospector: A year ago, prospecting, my stomach was weak and my bonanza was coarse, irritated skin. After a horde of “positive cures,” I tried Fleischmann’s Yeast. In two months, my skin was better than “back to normal”!
Dapper Gentleman: Four years ago, nervous strain and constipation left me all run down, barely able to drag myself around. But after taking Fleischmann’s Yeast, I’ve grown stronger and can now go to work. I have written manuscripts totaling 756,000 words!
Young Woman: For six years, I was ailing, nervous, depressed and rarely free from pain — all caused by intestinal putrefaction. After eating three Fleischmann’s Yeast Cakes daily, relief followed. I even regained long-discontinued compliments on my complexion. Today I am vigorously well — praise be to Fleischmann’s Yeast!
Burly man: Four years ago, I was physically “all in,” greatly troubled with indigestion, constipation — was a general nervous wreck. Three yeast cakes daily helped me gradually feel better, until today I’m in “top-notch shape.”
Why yeast, Mr. Fleischmann? What’s your origin story? Was the revelation whispered into your ear while standing on an outdoor patio? And when did you know it was a cure — praise be! — for so many ailments? A little research leads to the following discoveries:
- In the early 20th century, The Fleischmann Co. was a central supplier of yeast to American alcohol manufacturers.
- Yeast sales plummeted when Prohibition began in 1920.
- Around 1920, the company hired an advertising firm to market yeast cakes as a medicinal food.
- The ad campaign was a success. A nationwide, decade-long health fad contributed to 1,000% growth in sales.
- In the 1930s, Federal Trade Commission scientists questioned the health claims of eating yeast cakes. The yeast cake health fad started to look wan and pale.
It is 2025 and I am eating a bowl of cereal for breakfast and reading a newspaper. Ironically, as I dip my spoon to gather another clump of cereal flakes — flakes chock-full of the vitamins, minerals and fiber I need to start my day right, praise be! — I come across an article that warns against eating ultra-processed cereals. It turns out they are made with lots of sugar, salt and fat.
I learn that “the healthy claims made on the front of these products and the nutritional facts on the back are actually going in the opposite direction.”
I finish my bowl of cereal and finish reading the article. Finished as well is my belief in the claims made on cereal boxes. I will be more wary about what I put into my body. Yes, you simply can’t believe everything you see and hear.
I glance at more headlines and read that there is a measles outbreak, the largest in 50 years, happening in the Southwest. The cause? Folks have not been getting themselves or their kids vaccinated for measles.
