November 1905 – Collier’s Magazine runs a scathing article showing how patent medicine companies had influenced what was being written about the industry in Massachusetts newspapers. The article changes public perception about the industry.
Patent medicines preyed on consumers who believed that there were miracle cures for certain fatal illnesses. Many of these “medicines” contained addictive drugs such as opium or alcohol. For most of the 19 th century, the media ignored patent medicine advertising and were willing to accept the money for these ads.
Collier’s changed the media’s perception of patent medicine advertising. It printed a copy of a letter sent by a patent medicine company to every newspaper in Massachusetts that had a contract for patent medicine advertising. The letter noted that if certain legislation regulating these medicines passed in Massachusetts , the advertising would cease. As a result, Collier’s showed that virtually every newspaper did not cover the patent medicine debate before the politicians. It also showed how newspapers wrote editorials against the legislation to save their patent medicine advertising revenue. 55
The contract that the patent medicine companies had with newspapers across the country would become void if legislation regulating the patent medicines passed in the newspaper’s home state. By forcing the newspapers to sign such contracts to receive the advertising, the industry was requiring the paper to represent its positions, not the position of the public. And when newspapers such as the Cleveland Press wrote articles criticizing the drug industry, six manufacturers cancelled advertising contracts with the paper worth thousands of dollars. When the owner of the newspaper returned from a trip to Egypt , he promptly wrote a letter stating that similar articles about the drug industry would not appear in the future.
Such disclosures hurt the reputations of business journalists trying to fairly and accurately cover industry and commerce in a growing country. Not only were the editors and owners of newspapers and other media across the country being pressured by some of their largest advertisers to limit the negative articles in their publications, but their reporters and editors interested in telling the public information about industry and the economy were being influenced in what they wrote by the increasing role of the public relations person.