Anacin  

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Anacin is a family of branded over-the-counter pharmaceutical agents used to combat pain and headaches. The Anacin brand is currently owned by Insight Pharmaceuticals. Anacin's active ingredients are aspirin and caffeine.

History

Anacin was invented by William Milton Knight and was first estimated to be used in the year of 1916 as stated in the patent.^[1] Anacin is one of the oldest brands of pain relievers in the United States, first beginning sales in the 1930s. Anacin's mascot at the time was Ana Anacin, who was found in a number of ads of this product.

It was originally sold by The Anacin Co. ("Pharmaceutical Chemists") in Chicago, Illinois, later purchased by American Home Products, which manufactured Anacin through its Whitehall Pharmacal (later known as Whitehall Laboratories) division.

Advertising

Anacin is also one of the earliest and best examples of a concerted television marketing campaign. Many people remember the commercials advertising "tension producing" situations, and the "hammers in the head" ad: "Tension. Pressure. Pain."

Another ad that gained some notoriety featured a mother trying to give her grown daughter some help with a chore such as preparing a meal. "Don't you think it needs a little salt in it?", mother would say, only to have her nerve-racked daughter testily shout, "Mother, please, I'd rather do it myself!" As mother wilted, daughter would then emote and rub her head, with her inner voice saying, "Sure, you're tired, you have a headache, but don't take it out on her!" This scenario was parodied a number of times, including in the film Airplane. The Allan Sherman album My Son, the Nut featured a song called "Headaches", performed to the tune of the popular song "Heartaches". The song included a parody of an Anacin ad; in the parody a child says in an irritated voice, "Mom, would you please get Daddy's car out of the driveway?" (The actual commercial featured an irritated father driving into a garage saying to his wife, "Would you please get Billy's bike out of the driveway?")

Anacin had a large advertisement behind the center field fence in Yankee Stadium from the 1950s through 1973, prior to the stadium's renovation in 1974 and 1975.

Early Anacin radio commercials can still be found in public domain old time radio shows and dramas of the 50s. These commercials claim Anacin was being actively prescribed by doctors and dentists at the time, treats "headaches, neuritis and neuralgia," and that it contained "a combination of medically proven ingredients, like a doctor's prescription" but didn't specify those ingredients.

Varieties

Anacin covers an entire family of pain relievers. There are six different formulations:

• Anacin Regular Strength - contains 400 mg aspirin and 32 mg caffeine.
• Anacin Extra Strength - contains 500 mg aspirin and 32 mg caffeine.
• Anacin Advanced - contains 250 mg acetaminophen, 250 mg aspirin and 65 mg caffeine.
• Anacin 81 - contains 81 mg aspirin.
• Aspirin Free - contains 500 mg paracetamol (acetaminophen)
• Anacin 3 - Acetaminophen

ingredients = per tablet

References

External links

• Anacin Official Site
• Insight Pharmaceuticals - Anacin