
The Atomic Energy Lab first went on sale in 1951 and featured low levels of genuine radioactive material for children to experiment with. It remained on sale until the late 1970’s and although the materials were labeled as ‘safe’ you wouldn’t find many parents today willing to let their kids play with uranium ore.
The fascinating post at Environmental Graffiti also lists a wide range of other products (like face cream) which contained radioactive elements.
Next, is a product which suffered from the most unfortunate name in history - the Ayds Diet Pill. This was their sales pitch:
"Why take diet pills when you can enjoy Ayds?"


Not surprisingly, the linkage to AIDS was ultimately impossible to overcome and the company went out of business - although there is no clear date reported as to when it was officially taken off of the market.
Here's a link to a YouTube clip for the product. The British TV commercial (found here) ends with the tag line "Thank goodness for Ayds!"
I definitely wouldn't have wanted to play with any radioactive toys. It's just weird to imagine the things that were once on sale. It's a shame to think of that company with the unfortunate name. It's like with the anthrax scare happened soon after 9/11. There was all this hoopla over the band Anthrax having that name.
ReplyDeleteThe Ayds candy thing I can understand - there's no way they could have predicted an autoimmune disease would come along with the same name.... but a children's toy with ACTUAL RADIOACTIVE CHEMICALS? My mind is still having trouble comprehending this.
ReplyDeleteMy mom wouldn't even let me have a regular toy chemistry set, much less some radioactive stuff!
ReplyDeleteI remember Ayds, and I remember thinking, after seeing the AIDS thing developing, "Um--I guess that's why I don't see those Ayds commercials anymore...."
Remember Figurines?
I used to work at a Pharmacy when I was going to high school and I remember seeing these on display shortly after the AIDS crisis hit and I thought "This won't last". That was in '82.
ReplyDeleteI found this site using [url=http://google.com]google.com[/url] And i want to thank you for your work. You have done really very good site. Great work, great site! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteSorry for offtopic
Who knows where to download XRumer 5.0 Palladium?
ReplyDeleteHelp, please. All recommend this program to effectively advertise on the Internet, this is the best program!