Running shoes in the 1970s weren’t the first fad foisted upon the public by “shoe specialists”. Despite all the “technology”, those running shoes didn’t do a thing to prevent injuries (and in all likelihood, increased them).
And then there was the fluoroscope.
You see, they knew that shoes ruined toes. So when X-Rays came along, the fluoroscope was invented in the 1920s. Here’s an ad from 1943:
That’s right. Do it for your kids! Irradiate them!
Here’s what the front of the fluoroscope looked like:
That slot is where the kid’s shod foot went.
And from the top:
Those are three viewing ports: one for the child to look in (ooh, I can see my bones!!!), one for the child’s parent (see how great our shoes are!), and one for the shoe salesman (you really need to get this shoe!).
Isn’t it really amazing what is done to foist shoes upon people, and to try to correct problems that come from wearing shoes. It happens now with running shoes, and it happened then with the fluoroscopes.
Nobody even thought to question the safety of the device until 1949.
And what is even sillier is that, in the ad above, the little toes are still being forced into an unnatural position and being squished. You can also see how the shoe isn’t really shaped like a foot.
But it still sold the shoes. Because . . ., well, . . . just because it was really neat.
And, you know, somehow it just reminds me of this device:
It just so happens that it recommends that everybody needs one of their “custom orthotics”. Well, I guess we should be thankful it doesn’t use X-rays to “determine” that.
[Source of the picture, and the idea for this entry: a story in the March 5th edition of the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette. For more information, here’s a pretty good article.]
Nice! Great work mate 🙂
It never ceases to amaze me what they come up with. Nice find Bob!