Vintage Toronto Ads: Restoring Youthful Fire to Weak Men

If one believes the ad copy in turn-of-the-century publications, an epidemic of lethargy, weakness, and lack of masculine physical virtues afflicted North American men. Hapless readers were encouraged to try everything from embryonic versions of modern exercise programs to shocking their gonads with varying levels of electricity to restore their vigour.

From his office at Yonge and Adelaide, Dr. McLaughlin offered Torontonians a chance to add courage to their tired blood and cure common medical complaints of the era. Hinted at between the lines, and more explicitly in similar ads, was the belt's Viagra-like potential to restore "youthful ambitions." The physical description of a surviving belt in the Bakken Library and Museum's collection makes the contraption sound like a fetishist's dream or a torture device that should have been banned under the Geneva Convention: "Normal electric belt, brown fabric enclosing non-corroded cells; suspensory, susp. electrode. adjustable belt closure." The charge was produced by dipping the metal links into a mixture of sulfuric acid, vinegar, and water.

The good doctor did not restrict his activities to Toronto. The Dr. McLaughlin Company operated out of several North American cities, including Pittsburgh and San Francisco. McLaughlin appears to have used a different middle initial in each city, which could have fooled unhappy customers ("Bad belt? That was M.B. McLaughlin you bought it from. Cheap imitation! I'm M.O. McLaughlin and here's proof my belt works!").

How popular were electric belts? Models for men and women (sans genital hoop) were available in the Sears Roebuck catalogue in 1902.

Source: The Toronto World, September 20, 1908