From The "Suzhou Ming Bao"'s Medical Advertisements To Discuss Social Problems In Suzhou In Modern Times (1925-1937)

In 1925,Zhang Shuliang took over "Ming Bao" and renamed it "Suzhou Ming Bao".After more than ten years of reform and management,its content was constantly enriched,the layout became more reasonable,and the sales volume also increased greatly.Therefore,Suzhou Ming Bao became one of the three most influential newspapers in Suzhou society.There were many advertisements on Suzhou Ming Bao,among them,medical advertisements were the most.The reasons were as follows:the increase of imported medicine and medicine produced and sold in China,the high profits,the change of people's consumption consciousness and the characteristics of the times.Advertisers always according to consumers' psychology adopt different propagandist methods,in order to attract purchase and occupy a greater share in the market.According to the different classification elements,medical advertisements can be divided into medicine,medical treatment,tonic advertisements and so on.The large number of medical advertisements provided financial support for the survival of the newspapers,which had influenced people's concept of health,then affected the sense of consumption,and also promoted the development of medical industry and national industry.Medical advertisement is not merely a commercial advertisement,it is also a reflection of social issues related to people.The existence of a large number of opium cessation,treatment of sexually transmitted diseases and epidemic prevention advertisements in Suzhou Ming Bao reflected the opium abuse,Prostitution and plague in modern Suzhou society.In modern times,opium consumption was prevalent in Suzhou,and opium abuse became a tumor in Suzhou society.The trend of modernization made people realized the great harm of opium abuse.The government began to carry out the campaign of quitting opium in depth,and the folk also constantly advocated quitting opium.Addicts who were under pressures choose to quit opium.For a time,all kinds of quitting opium drugs rushed to advertise on the newspapers,Bragging their Efficacy,which made it difficult to distinguish between true and false.The proliferation of prostitution,had led to the emergence and widely spread of sexually transrmitted diseases.Although prostitution was once banned in Suzhou,the movement actually failed to control the development of prostitution.As a result,sexually transmitted diseases were filled with advertisements for treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.During the period of the Republic of China,various kinds of epidemic diseases,led by cholera,frequently broke out in Suzhou.Under the stimulation of the fierce epidemic,the authorities cooperated with social organizations to form a set of emergency prevention and emergency system combining temporary treatment with routine prevention.