How one controversial ad downsized an appetite suppressant company (& not in a good way)
Ayds Reducing Plan Candy was a successful appetite-suppressant product introduced in the United States around 1940, marketed with the cheerful slogan “Lose weight deliciously with the aid of Ayds.” Available in chocolate, chocolate mint, butterscotch, and caramel flavors, the candy contained benzocaine and later phenylpropanolamine to suppress appetite, becoming particularly popular with women seeking weight loss solutions throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. The brand enjoyed strong sales and celebrity endorsements, with Hollywood stars promoting the Ayds Reducing Plan as an easy path to slimness without rigorous dieting or exercise. However, the brand name and slogan, though pre-dating the health crisis by decades, became phonetically identical to AIDS during the height of the epidemic in the 1980s, leading to extreme discomfort and accusations of insensitivity that would ultimately destroy the product.
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The perfect storm of unfortunate timing
By the mid-1980s, public awareness of AIDS brought notoriety to the brand due to the phonetic similarity of names and the fact that the disease caused immense weight loss in patients, creating a horrifying association between voluntary dieting and deadly illness. The connection became inescapable as AIDS dominated news coverage and public consciousness, with the epidemic’s association with dramatic weight loss, suffering, and death making any product promising weight reduction through something called “Ayds” seem grotesque. Many consumers became unwilling to purchase a candy with a name so closely linked to a life-threatening illness, particularly as HIV stigma and hysteria reached their peak in American society.
Corporate denial and defiance
Initially, the makers of Ayds insisted the similarity wasn’t a problem and refused to change the name despite mounting evidence of consumer discomfort. In a September 1985 newspaper interview titled “AIDS has aided Ayds,” the president of Ayds’ manufacturing company stated that sales had actually increased as a result of the connection, and that “people who suffer from that disease are not the same people who are trying to lose weight.” Another executive was quoted in early 1986, declaring, “The product has been around for 45 years. Let the disease change its name.” This tone-deaf response demonstrated a catastrophic failure to understand how deeply AIDS was affecting public consciousness and the impossibility of maintaining a brand associated with death and suffering.
The inevitable collapse
By 1988, reality became undeniable as sales had fallen by as much as 50%, forcing the company to announce it was seeking a new name. The first rebrand debuted in the UK as “Ayds,” and the product was eventually renamed “Diet Ayds” in the United States around January 1989. However, these half-hearted rebranding attempts came too late to save the product, as the damage to the brand’s reputation was irreparable. Advertisements for Diet Ayds appeared in newspapers until at least 1993, but the product was eventually withdrawn from the market.
Conclusion
The Ayds appetite suppressant story demonstrates how external events beyond a company’s control can destroy even long-established brands, and how corporate stubbornness in refusing to acknowledge serious problems can accelerate that destruction, turning a salvageable situation into complete brand death.
Related:
- Bizarre historical laws that were once taken completely seriously
- Questionable childhood toys that parents let us play with in the ‘70s
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