Speaker 1: Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
Speaker 1: with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Doctor Williams Pink Pills for Pale People were marketed as
Speaker 2: a remedy for lots of things, as we'll see. But
Speaker 2: one of those things was how it promised to cure anemia,
Speaker 2: specifically the symptoms of iron deficiency anemia and chlorosis. Chlorosis
Speaker 2: is actually a type of iron deficiency anemia, and its
Speaker 2: hallmark is a greenish tint to your skin. Anemia was
Speaker 2: commonly diagnosed in adolescent girls and women in the nineteenth century,
Speaker 2: and common symptoms include pale skin, weakness, fatigue, dizziness, heart palpitations,
Speaker 2: and sort of a general malaise. The pink in the name,
Speaker 2: by the way, that was a nod to the rosy
Speaker 2: complexion of all the cured patients who'd use the product.
Speaker 2: And here's the thing, ballot, these pink pills, they may
Speaker 2: have actually worked, maybe a little bit. Welcome to Criminalia.
Speaker 2: I'm Maria Tremarky and I'm Holly Frye. Doctor Williams. Pink
Speaker 2: pills for Pale People were advertised as a cure all
Speaker 2: here's what they actually were coated in a pink colored
Speaker 2: jacket of sugar, and analysis of the pills conducted in
Speaker 2: nineteen oh nine for the British Medical Association revealed that
Speaker 2: the pills were a combination of an iron compound and
Speaker 2: magnesium sulfate and some sugar and a pinch of powdered licorice.
Speaker 2: You might know magnesium sulfate as epsom salt. It's a
Speaker 2: chemical compound made up of magnesium, sulfur and oxygen, and
Speaker 2: today it's used for potential health benefits like relieving muscle pain.
Speaker 2: The iron component is the star here. We've seen the
Speaker 2: included iron listed in different forms on different pink pill labels,
Speaker 2: in related pamphlets, and even in the results of government
Speaker 2: chemical analysis. Iron oxide, citrated iron chloride, sulfate of iron,
Speaker 2: and ferrous fumerate are all the potential forms. These forms
Speaker 2: of iron are, by the way, everywhere. You'll find them
Speaker 2: used as a colorant in cosmetics, food, personal care products, ink, paint,
Speaker 2: and plastics, even sometimes concrete. Some sunscreens contain it for
Speaker 2: its photoprotective properties, and you will also find it in
Speaker 2: the pharmaceutical industry, including as treatment for iron deficiency anemia. Basically,
Speaker 2: the pills were an iron supplement, which theoretically could have
Speaker 2: benefited people with iron deficiency anemia. Though the iron content
Speaker 2: we're talking about here was notably pretty low. Because approximately
Speaker 2: one third of the iron in the pills had oxidized
Speaker 2: in the samples that chemists used during the nineteen oh
Speaker 2: nine analysis, they concluded that the pills had been quote
Speaker 2: very carelessly prepared. The formula went through several changes over
Speaker 2: the years, and one late in the game version included
Speaker 2: ALO for its laxative properties. Like the health benefits of
Speaker 2: an iron supplement for someone with anemia, This isn't bunk information. Today,
Speaker 2: alo is used as a stimulant laxative.
Speaker 1: When we talk about patent medicines, it's easy to lump
Speaker 1: them all together under an umbrella of substances that contained
Speaker 1: dangerous ingredients. There were mostly two types of ingredients lists
Speaker 1: for these unregulated drugs in their heyday. Some were simply
Speaker 1: a combination of flavoring, coloring, and aromatics, and while they
Speaker 1: didn't work, they weren't harmful. But others contained dangerous opiates
Speaker 1: alcohol or strychnine, for instance, and those could be lethal
Speaker 1: if the dosage was too high. The so called remedy
Speaker 1: was often worse than the disease in those cases. But
Speaker 1: those products that didn't injure or kill you, like the
Speaker 1: Pink pills, were problematic in a different way, and that's
Speaker 1: how they were advertised. Often patent medicine manufacturers did not
Speaker 1: follow through on their health promises, and that's ultimately it.
Speaker 1: That is what got a lot of people in trouble,
Speaker 1: those big promises with no delivery.
Speaker 2: Originally produced and patented in eighteen sixty six by doctor
Speaker 2: William Frederick Jackson, who was a real physician in Ontario, Canada,
Speaker 2: the Pink pills were promoted and marketed as a cure
Speaker 2: for digestive problems, malaria, wound healing, and general poor mental health.
Speaker 2: The remedy picked up more healing promises over the years
Speaker 2: and was advertised in the Ventura Free Press in eighteen
Speaker 2: ninety six as a tonic that would also cure quote
Speaker 2: the blood and nerves to treat anemia, lack of energy, depression,
Speaker 2: and poor appetite. By the end of the decade, advertisements
Speaker 2: for the pills began to claim they had a lot
Speaker 2: more benefit. They were claimed to be a restorative for
Speaker 2: partial paralysis, sciatica, neuralgia, rheumatism, tension, headaches, influenza, heart palpitations,
Speaker 2: pale and sallow complexions, all forms of weakness, either in
Speaker 2: male or female, and all diseases resulting from the quote
Speaker 2: pitiated humors in the blood. And that transformation of the
Speaker 2: Pink Pills into a cu ale is due to a
Speaker 2: man named George Fulford.
Speaker 1: George Taylor Fulford of Brockville, Ontario, Canada bought the patent
Speaker 1: for the pills in eighteen ninety and turned them into
Speaker 1: an international brand and a sensation. Fulford had attended business
Speaker 1: school before apprenticing at his brother William's drug store. He
Speaker 1: took over that business when he was twenty two years old.
Speaker 1: Five years later, he was elected to the first of
Speaker 1: what would be twelve terms as an Alderman. He didn't
Speaker 1: enter the patent medicine trade until he was in his
Speaker 1: mid thirties, and he certainly made an entrance. The international
Speaker 1: success of the Pink Pills is due to the marketing
Speaker 1: prowess of this Canadian politician, Senator George Fulford. Fulford formed G. T.
Speaker 1: Fulford and Company in eighteen eighty seven to manufacture and
Speaker 1: distribute patent medicines. Three years after opening, that company acquired
Speaker 1: the rights to Doctor Williams Pink Pills for Pale People,
Speaker 1: allegedly paying fifty three dollars and one cent to doctor
Speaker 1: William Jackson for the recipe. Fulford was listed in the
Speaker 1: Chemist and Druggist Journal as the owner of the Doctor
Speaker 1: Williams Medicine Company, having purchased the patent. In fact, he
Speaker 1: marketed the Pink Pills through the Doctor Williams Medicine Company,
Speaker 1: which he had turned into the trading arm of G. T.
Speaker 1: Fulford and Company, and he made a fortune within five years.
Speaker 1: He expanded the Doctor Williams Medicine Company not only throughout
Speaker 1: North America, but into Europe, including the United Kingdom and
Speaker 1: all across the British Empire and all. He advertised the
Speaker 1: Pink Pills and all of their healing glory in more
Speaker 1: than eighty countries from Canada to Australia.
Speaker 2: We're going to take a break for a word from
Speaker 2: our sponsors. When we're back, we'll be sharing examples of
Speaker 2: marketing and advertising copy for the Pink Pills and how
Speaker 2: first hand testimonials were plentiful and super important in these campaigns.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about how the marketing
Speaker 1: and advertising of Doctor Williams pink pills worked.
Speaker 2: Beginning in the early eighteen nineties, the publicity for the
Speaker 2: pink pills was written by one guy, John Mackenzie, a
Speaker 2: Canadian businessman who also had journalism experience. In eighteen ninety
Speaker 2: two he was made manager of the medicine company and
Speaker 2: held the position until his retirement in nineteen twenty nine.
Speaker 2: When it comes to the pink pills, he may as
Speaker 2: well have been the chemist. His copy and campaigns were
Speaker 2: of most importance to the bottom line under his and
Speaker 2: Fulford's watch. An early advertisement in The Venturer of Free
Speaker 2: Press went like this. It described two men walking down
Speaker 2: the street. One quote has a vigorous, firm, elastic step,
Speaker 2: his head well up, his eyes bright, while the other
Speaker 2: appeared to be a man quote broken in health who
Speaker 2: had to quote whip himself to every task. Claim to
Speaker 2: the ad, the first man had healthy nerves because they
Speaker 2: were quote stimulated by feeding them with Doctor Williams pink pills.
Speaker 1: It would be remiss to not mention that Fulford launch
Speaker 1: date huge marketing campaign for the pink pills and spent
Speaker 1: upwards of two hundred thousand pounds on advertising in the
Speaker 1: year nineteen hundred alone, and that is just in Britain.
Speaker 1: The tale of this patent medicine company is less about
Speaker 1: the ingredients of the product being a problem. It was
Speaker 1: that over the top marketing and advertising campaign of lies
Speaker 1: that finally caught the attention of federal authorities. And of
Speaker 1: course we have examples.
Speaker 2: So another advertisement for the pills comes from the Maryborough Chronicle,
Speaker 2: which recommended they be taken as a blood and energy
Speaker 2: restorative for flu sufferers. Quote the blood is the most
Speaker 2: dependable weapon in the fight against disease, and when the
Speaker 2: enemy is as violent as influenza, there is no better
Speaker 2: blood builder than Doctor William's pink pills. It was a
Speaker 2: perfect time to market the pills as a cure against flu,
Speaker 2: as the global flu pandemic of nineteen eighteen to nineteen twenty,
Speaker 2: also known by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was raging
Speaker 2: and deadly. While it made for great marketing campaigns, the
Speaker 2: pills sure didn't cure the flu.
Speaker 1: Advertisements were carefully crafted to invey all sorts of important
Speaker 1: information to the consumer, from what these things could cure
Speaker 1: to how to get some for yourself. One such example
Speaker 1: is as follows quote doctor Williams Pink Pills for Pale
Speaker 1: People have cured countless men and women of anemia, indigestion, ezema, rheumatism, sciatica,
Speaker 1: Saint Vitus's Dance now known as Sydenham's qorea, neuralgia, nervous disorders,
Speaker 1: paralysis and locomotive at taxi sold at shops. But avoid
Speaker 1: substitutes and take care that the full name doctor Williams
Speaker 1: Pink Pills for Pale People is on every package sold
Speaker 1: by all chemists and druggists. An interesting illustrated pamphlet describing
Speaker 1: many cures will be sent post free on application. Yes,
Speaker 1: you could get a whole pamphlet outlining the alleged benefits
Speaker 1: of the pink pills.
Speaker 2: Advertisements also claimed the pills purified the blood by well
Speaker 2: by making new blood, and this happened, it was explained
Speaker 2: by quote, enriching the existing weak or anemic blood supply.
Speaker 2: The pills would the copy promised quote, tone up the
Speaker 2: nerves and increase the patient's power of using the food
Speaker 2: he takes.
Speaker 1: Fulford and Mackenzie's advertisement campaigns also began to target women
Speaker 1: specifically and claimed that the pills were a remedy for
Speaker 1: many quote female ailments. One stated that men seek quote
Speaker 1: wholesome looking women with rosy cheeks and good health as
Speaker 1: their future wives. The advertisement warned that without help, a
Speaker 1: woman's quote regular monthly uterine action could result in a
Speaker 1: quote pale and sallow complexion and a feeling of exhaustion.
Speaker 1: This ad also claimed that continued use of the pills
Speaker 1: would quote fortify the system against the ravages of the
Speaker 1: symptoms attending menopause.
Speaker 2: Claims of these exaggerated benefits were almost constantly in the
Speaker 2: face of consumers, whether seen in newspapers or other print media,
Speaker 2: or promoted by salesmen and even sometimes physicians. Another advertisement
Speaker 2: focused on women, for instance, read quote many thin, anemic
Speaker 2: girls and women have been wonderfully transformed by doctor Williams
Speaker 2: brand pink pills. Instead of being weak, flat chested, pale
Speaker 2: and lacking in charm, they are now bright and bonni,
Speaker 2: with sparkling eyes, rosy cheeks, and a graceful, well proportioned form,
Speaker 2: full of life and vitality. They are now the envy
Speaker 2: and admiration of their friends. These happy results are easily explained.
Speaker 2: Doctor Williams Pink pills contain the necessary vital elements that
Speaker 2: create new, rich red blood. So lose no time, improve
Speaker 2: your health and regain your lost weight. By taking a
Speaker 2: course of Doctor Williams Pink pills, you too can gain
Speaker 2: a graceful figure.
Speaker 1: Fulford and Mackenzie relied quote heavily on testimonials submitted by
Speaker 1: customers of Miraculous Recoveries printed in newspapers in such a
Speaker 1: way that it was different dificult to differentiate news articles
Speaker 1: from the advertisements. They kind of were early forebears of
Speaker 1: the advertorial. For instance, Reverend Enoch Hill of the First
Speaker 1: United Methodist Church of Grand Junction, Iowa, endorsed the product
Speaker 1: in many nineteen hundreds advertisements, claiming that the pink pills
Speaker 1: boosted his energy and cured his chronic headaches.
Speaker 2: Another printed testimonial, this one in a British paper, read
Speaker 2: as quote said missus Hatch, I was sickly, pale and
Speaker 2: anemic when I was approaching the age of twenty. In
Speaker 2: spite of all treatment, I could get no real relief.
Speaker 2: My sister insisted I tried Doctor Williams Pink pills for
Speaker 2: pale people, and at last I did it. Took several
Speaker 2: boxes of these pills before I obtained any real relief.
Speaker 2: Then I was encouraged by signs of improvement, and as
Speaker 2: I continued the pills, all signs of anemia vanished. The
Speaker 2: rheumatic pains left me, and my strength was gradually built up.
Speaker 2: I felt younger and was in sound health. Today, I
Speaker 2: am free from all pain, with no fears of illness.
Speaker 1: Inside and outside the United States, marketing materials were very boasty,
Speaker 1: and not just from satisfied customers who picked up some
Speaker 1: pills at the local druggists. Testimonial from doctor Giuseppe Laponi,
Speaker 1: who was chief physician to Pope Leo the thirteenth, was
Speaker 1: held up as an example of a medical professional using
Speaker 1: doctor Williams's pink pills in his practice with quote good results.
Speaker 2: The pink pills, it was also claimed, were a quote
Speaker 2: miracle cure for consumption which we now know as tuberculosis.
Speaker 2: A British advertising pamphlet for the pills, called The Queen's Gift,
Speaker 2: published in nineteen hundred and give or take a year,
Speaker 2: there was aimed at British colonists around the world. The
Speaker 2: pamphlet claimed that because of quote an inspiring entrepreneurial environment,
Speaker 2: doctor Williams was a to develop his pink pills a
Speaker 2: miracle of modern medicine. The pamphlet also provided several testimonials,
Speaker 2: of course, from grateful patients cured by the pills. Among
Speaker 2: them was a mister Rogers, the quote first Englishman to
Speaker 2: be cured of tubercular consumption. Knowing the ingredients those pink
Speaker 2: pills were not likely what cured him, but potential customers
Speaker 2: didn't know that.
Speaker 1: We're going to take a break here for a word
Speaker 1: from our sponsors, and when we return, we'll talk more
Speaker 1: about the big promises that patent medicine companies made and
Speaker 1: why the pink pills may have may have worked a
Speaker 1: little bit, possibly, but only if you had anemia.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about what happened when
Speaker 2: the pink pill's product went up against the United States
Speaker 2: Pure Food and Drug Act. It's probably not a spoiler
Speaker 2: that the company lost, but maybe not for reasons you
Speaker 2: might think.
Speaker 1: Fulford became a wealthy man selling patent medicine around the world,
Speaker 1: but he's sometimes remembered for quite a different and very
Speaker 1: tragic story. Rather than hawking harmless pills. At the age
Speaker 1: of fifty three in nineteen oh five, Fulford's vehicle was
Speaker 1: hit by a street car and he was ejected from
Speaker 1: the automobile on Walnut Street in Newton, Massachusetts. Fulford was
Speaker 1: fatally injured, and he became the first Canadian known to
Speaker 1: have died in an auto accident. After his death, Fulford's son,
Speaker 1: also named George, became involved in the business.
Speaker 2: Shortly after Fulford's death. The Pure Food and Drug Act
Speaker 2: of nineteen oh six, also known as Wiley's Law, was
Speaker 2: signed by United States President Theodore Roosevelt, and, as we've
Speaker 2: seen happen in other stories of snake oil sales this season,
Speaker 2: its very existence dimmed the popularity of many patent medicines
Speaker 2: in the United States, including the pink pills, or it
Speaker 2: made the so called medicines impossible to purchase. The Act's
Speaker 2: purpose was to prevent the quote, manufacture, sale, or transportation
Speaker 2: of adulterated or misbranded or poisonous or deletorious food, drugs, medications,
Speaker 2: and liquors, with patent medicines coming under increasing scrutiny in
Speaker 2: the early twentieth century. The law also required that active
Speaker 2: ingredients be displayed on labels and a standard of purity
Speaker 2: levels for ingredients to be set by the United States
Speaker 2: Pharmacopeia or the National Formulary. If they didn't get you
Speaker 2: for problematic ingredients, they could and would bring you down
Speaker 2: for false or fraudulent advertising. And it was also a
Speaker 2: truth in labeling law, and misbranding was a very big deal.
Speaker 1: The label on one still remained package of Doctor Williams
Speaker 1: Pink Pills for pale people reads as a mail order
Speaker 1: ad and it read quote safe and effective tonic for
Speaker 1: the blood and nerves anemic conditions, diseases caused by or
Speaker 1: dependent on thin, impoverished blood, and for nervous disorders resulting
Speaker 1: from malnutrition. Useful wherever a nerving or digestive tonic is required.
Speaker 1: These pills are guaranteed to contain no opiates or narcotics contents.
Speaker 1: Forty pills price fifty cents, six boxes for two fifty
Speaker 1: The Doctor Williams Medical Company Sconnectedy, New York and Brockville, Ontario, WT.
Speaker 1: Hansen Company Sconnectedy, New York, US distributors. Directions inside in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian.
Speaker 1: The pink pills were also sold in small numbers and
Speaker 1: over the counter, and that helped increase both Fulford's profits,
Speaker 1: and it made the pills available to poorer consumers who
Speaker 1: weren't able to afford a whole expensive package all at once.
Speaker 2: Before the new law, the proprietors did not at all
Speaker 2: have to prove their patent medicines were effective, nor did
Speaker 2: they have to prove anything they claimed on the label,
Speaker 2: and to be honest, most of them didn't bother with
Speaker 2: that after the law was enacted either, instead hedging their
Speaker 2: bets that the government wouldn't catch up with them. In
Speaker 2: nineteen sixteen, the United States government caught up with the
Speaker 2: Doctor Williams Medical company.
Speaker 1: Doctor Williams Pink pills were targeted not because people were
Speaker 1: sick or dying from them, they were pretty benign, but
Speaker 1: because of the company's outrageous claims and promises regarding the
Speaker 1: medicine's curative qualities. Many patent medicines claimed to cure everything
Speaker 1: from quote generalized debility to other complaints like lassitude and
Speaker 1: weak stomach fibers, and all of those promises were the
Speaker 1: key to patent medicine's success. They were the hook. What
Speaker 1: were your other choices? If you were someone with a
Speaker 1: health complaint waited out may a doctor for a round
Speaker 1: of blood letting. No thank you, said many people, while
Speaker 1: consumers didn't seem to mind the ridiculous claims that a
Speaker 1: product could cure your acne and bring you back to
Speaker 1: life and essentially put dinner on the table. Exaggerated promises
Speaker 1: got a lot of patent medicine peddlers in trouble, a
Speaker 1: jury found in favor of the United States government, and
Speaker 1: all the dreams that Pink Pills promised were shattered because
Speaker 1: shipments of the product were ordered to be destroyed.
Speaker 2: So did they work? Though the Pink Pills couldn't stand
Speaker 2: up to the wild marketing claims that they were a cure,
Speaker 2: all the pills were actually potentially medically helpful to some
Speaker 2: people living with anemia who took them. In theory maybe, Hey,
Speaker 2: we're not doctors here, but while the ingredients were weak,
Speaker 2: they were iron supplements, which we do know is important
Speaker 2: for the management and treatment of iron deficiency anemia. Those
Speaker 2: testimonials may not have all been total bs.
Speaker 1: Some people may have felt a little bit better, a
Speaker 1: little less pale. You know what makes me feel better? Well, cocktail,
Speaker 1: are you ready for some Cure's? What ails you, little.
Speaker 2: Cocktail without a little rosy cheeks to my life. What
Speaker 2: are you doing right?
Speaker 1: Right? Obviously I'm not reinventing the wheel. We're calling this
Speaker 1: the pink pill. Thinking about this, it immediately put me
Speaker 1: in mind of a drink that cracks me up and
Speaker 1: is one that I can't imagine many people really enjoying
Speaker 1: unless you just really love gin, and that is a
Speaker 1: pink gin. A pink gin. You can buy pink gin
Speaker 1: on the shelves now in your local liquor store. They
Speaker 1: just have pink gins. They've gotten very popular because people
Speaker 1: like pink things. But a pink gin was actually a
Speaker 1: drink that was invented in the mid eighteen hundreds, which
Speaker 1: is literally just two out of gin and like three
Speaker 1: dashes of angusterra bitters, and some bartenders would thin it
Speaker 1: a little bit with water. But unless you'd love gin,
Speaker 1: which some people do, but I don't think a whole
Speaker 1: lot like street gin, this is probably not a delicious drink.
Speaker 1: But I thought that might make a good start for
Speaker 1: another drink. And of course there's also that little mention
Speaker 1: of licorice the very beginning of this episode that was
Speaker 1: in the pills. Yeah, so I thought, how is a
Speaker 1: way we can just low grade include some licorice flavor
Speaker 1: in here without getting two out of control. We're gonna
Speaker 1: start with that pink gin base. We're not gonna buy
Speaker 1: pink gin. You don't have to. You got bitters. If
Speaker 1: you don't have bitters, we have an option. It'll come
Speaker 1: up at the mocktail. But we're gonna start with two
Speaker 1: ounces of gin, three to four dashes of angusterra bitters.
Speaker 1: That's what turns it pink. It has bitters have a
Speaker 1: reddish quality to them. Angoster it does anyway, and so
Speaker 1: that's what gives it a pink look. And then you're
Speaker 1: gonna add, oh, just a kiss, like an eighth of
Speaker 1: an ounce of anissets to get that liquorice flavor in there.
Speaker 1: You don't want a lot more than that. It's not yummy.
Speaker 1: It just it becomes a different drink. Then you're gonna
Speaker 1: do between a quarter and a third of an ounce
Speaker 1: of simple syrup or vanilla syrup, and that is to
Speaker 1: your taste. There's no wrong way. You were gonna give
Speaker 1: this a nice good shake with ice, make it super cold,
Speaker 1: pour it over ice in like a rocks glass or
Speaker 1: whatever glass you wish, whatever serving vessel makes you happy.
Speaker 1: And then you'll top it with ginger ale. And the
Speaker 1: ginger ale is the reason that I say there's not
Speaker 1: a one right measure for the syrup, because if you're
Speaker 1: using like a regular sugar ginger ale, you might want
Speaker 1: to pull it back. If you're using a sugar free
Speaker 1: you might want to pour a little more syrup in there.
Speaker 1: But this fixes the problem for me of just straight gin,
Speaker 1: and it makes it quite lovely, and that little kiss
Speaker 1: of liquorice flavor is really quite nice, and it just
Speaker 1: just gets a little more depth that brings out some
Speaker 1: of the more floral notes. This is also one that,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, this went through an uncharacteristically large number
Speaker 1: of tests. For me, usually I'm pretty fast, I can
Speaker 1: whip out a couple and I figured out this one.
Speaker 1: Some of it was ab testing. I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: what if we use this gin versus this gin? What
Speaker 1: if we made it with absinthe instead of aniset. Don't
Speaker 1: do that, is my advice. I did not like it
Speaker 1: at all, and I tried it with club soda instead
Speaker 1: of ginger reel, and it just tasted a little too thin.
Speaker 1: You need a little more flavor in there to make
Speaker 1: it all work, but it is quite yummy. If you
Speaker 1: would like to make an alcohol free pink pill, that
Speaker 1: is very easy. We're going to do what we've been
Speaker 1: doing for a while now and use flatonic water as
Speaker 1: your gin substitute. Two ounces of that if you're go
Speaker 1: okay with bitters, because some people that don't drink are
Speaker 1: still okay with bitters because it is a tiny amount,
Speaker 1: you can put those in. If you don't want to
Speaker 1: do bitters, literally a drop of whatever red syrup you
Speaker 1: have on hand, and if you have grenadine, great. If
Speaker 1: you have hibiscus grade, there's not enough of it that
Speaker 1: it's going to shift the flavor around too much, especially
Speaker 1: when you consider that volume to the amount of gin
Speaker 1: or fake gin in this case you have, so you're good.
Speaker 1: Aniset syrups or liquorice syrups are pretty easy to get
Speaker 1: a hold of, and then your simple syrup and then
Speaker 1: your ginger ale. Everything is the same. So again, that's
Speaker 1: two ounces of gin or your flattonic three to four
Speaker 1: dashes of anguster, a bitters or one drop of the
Speaker 1: red syrup of your choice, one eighth of an ounce
Speaker 1: of aniset or a licorice syrup one quarter to one
Speaker 1: third of an ounce of simple or vanilla syrup and
Speaker 1: then shake it over ice, top it with ginger ale delicious.
Speaker 1: It's not going to fix any of your ailments.
Speaker 2: It's definitely if you drink enough.
Speaker 1: Of anything, you'll feel like you don't have any ailments.
Speaker 1: Please don't be unwise, drink responsibly. But yeah, that's the
Speaker 1: pink pill. You're still going to be an emic if
Speaker 1: you started with anemia. That won't fix a thing, but
Speaker 1: like I said, you might feel that. Also, if you
Speaker 1: think you're a n ee mcplease see a doctor.
Speaker 2: We've lifted the sometimes the most common one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we are so thankful that you spent this time
Speaker 1: with us today talking about pink pills for pale people,
Speaker 1: which is a phrase I just love. We will be
Speaker 1: right back here next week with another story of snake
Speaker 1: oil and another cocktail to go with it. Criminalia is
Speaker 1: a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio. For
Speaker 1: more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, please visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.