Unfortunately-Named 70's Diet Pill

[Spurminator]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXZ1Sr1z6Gc

[ShoogarBear]

I don't even have to watch. I remember the AYDS diet pill (I think that's how it was spelled).

[IX_Equilibrium]

Ironic that the lady in the 2nd testimonial is from a town called "Sicklerville".

[ShoogarBear]

If you want to remember a real classic from the 80s:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSc1Wf_AJMc

[Fillmoe]

aids will have you losing weight for sure!

[Spurminator]

I don't even have to watch. I remember the AYDS diet pill (I think that's how it was spelled).

So it's real?

I wasn't sure.

When was it out?

[Kori Ellis]

So it's real?

I wasn't sure.

When was it out?

It was a diet pill that was like a chewable candy in the 80s.

[ShoogarBear]

Yes, it was real. The commercials were entrenched enough that I remember thinking when the term AIDS first became official that the Ayds people weren't going to be too happy about it. (The original term was GRID: Gay-Related Immune Deficiency).

Some interesting history I Googled:

The quandary could be a case study at the Harvard Business School. The problem: a deadly disease breaks out that has a name that sounds the same as that of a well-known diet product. Question: What should the marketer do to avoid possible confusion? Jeffrey Martin Inc., the distributor of Ayds appe e-suppressant candy, has faced just this issue since AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, began getting public attention in mid-1981. Jeffrey Martin acquired the Ayds marketing rights from Purex at about the time of the first report of AIDS.

Sales of the diet candy had been sluggish for years when Jeffrey Martin took over the product. Says Martin Himmel, company president: "We have repackaged it, redesigned it, readvertised it and given it a new breath of life." Perhaps as a result, retailers say, the disease is not hurting the product. Says Elliot Dworkin, vice president of Revco D.S. Inc., which operates 1,661 drugstores in 28 states: "Ayds sales have never been better."

Also

The NY Times (1982) reported that the active ingredient in AYDS was phenylpropanolamine - a substance the FDA has now ruled "not recognized as safe".