Content note: Advertisement photograph shows a man in Renaissance dress pulling a kneeling woman by the arm, with text about 'Petruchio's violent methods' and menopausal symptoms. This object is shown as it was published. Why
The Taming of the Shrew (Guard all life-lines against sabotage)
A sponsor's sheet from a drug company. A banner at top reads 'GUARD ALL LIFE-LINES AGAINST SABOTAGE' over a circular photograph of a man in Renaissance dress pulling a kneeling woman by the arm, with 'The Taming of the Shrew' in a red disc and dense body text selling estrogen products to physicians. The wartime banner is borrowed to carry a product message.
Propaganda techniques used in this advertisement
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Abbott Laboratories (painting by Peter Helck)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Advertisement
- Issuer type
- Corporation
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- Home front, Health, Security and surveillance
- Event
- World War II
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Posters, retrieved October 4, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
Abbott Laboratories (painting by Peter Helck). National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-921A (NAID 514426).
Text on the object
GUARD ALL LIFE-LINES AGAINST SABOTAGE—Painted by Peter Helck This painting and poster design are contributed to the Nation by Abbott Laboratories. Copies of the poster, for use in offices and reception rooms, will be sent to interested physicians upon request. The Taming of the Shrew PETRUCHIO'S VIOLENT METHODS may succeed in taming mere shrewishness, but the irritability and emotional instability so often associated with the menopause require more sympathetic treatment. Fortunately, providing relief in a majority of these cases is wisely left to the physician. By administering suitable estrogenic preparations in properly adjusted doses, many distressing menopausal symptoms may now be largely eliminated. That Estrone, Abbott, and Estriol, Abbott, are suitable is attested by several facts. They are identical with the two pure crystalline estrogenic substances originally isolated by Dr. E. A. Doisy and Associates—and are manufactured and marketed under license from St. Louis University. Uniform purity and potency of Estrone, Abbott, and Estriol, Abbott, are doubly assured. Samples of each lot are bioassayed not only in the Abbott Control Laboratory, but also in the Biochemical Laboratory of the St. Louis University School of Medicine. Estrone, Abbott, is supplied in ampoules of 1000, 2000, 5000 and 10,000 International units; and in vaginal suppositories furnishing 200 and 2000 International units. Estriol, Abbott, for oral use, is available at pharmacies in capsules of 0.06 mg., 0.12 mg. and 0.24 mg. ABBOTT LABORATORIES, North Chicago, Illinois. Estrone, Abbott Estriol, Abbott [handwritten:] 44-PA-921
