Gene Wilder Defines ‘The Blahs’ in an Animated Alka-Seltzer Ad From 1960

“You know, we wouldn’t have invented a disease unless we had something to take for it”

In 1960, Alka-Seltzer ran a cleverly animated ad that featured an atonal violin and the dulcet voice of actor Gene Wilder, who very clearly provided definition to an invented disease called “the blahs”.

Alka-Seltzer invents a new disease – the blahs. The blahs is kind of like the blues, only physical. It’s when you’re down in the dumps and you don’t know a cold is working on you. It’s when you’re not feeling right, but you don’t know what’s wrong. It might be a headache on its way, a stomachache on its way. Ah…the blahs, who needs them?

via Boing Boing