Title: Vick's Vaporub

Identifier: Country Doctor Museum   (https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/14360)

Description: Vick's Vaporub was invented in the early 1900s in Greensboro, North Carolina by H. Smith Richardson who grew up working in his father's drugstore. H. Smith Richardson called his product Vick's because it was the name that was easy to remember, it also happened to be his brother-in-law's name. Vick's Vaporub was considered a patent medicine. These medicines were being attacked at the time by the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 that forced many patent medicines off the market. Aggressive marketing is responsible for the success of Vick's Vaporub. In the South billboards, Vick's Chemical Company salesmen, and word of mouth were responsible for the product's success.