{"id":948188,"date":"2026-05-09T11:26:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T11:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/948188\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T11:26:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T11:26:12","slug":"hunting-for-lexapro-clocks-viagra-neckties-and-other-vintage-pharmaceutical-merch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/948188\/","title":{"rendered":"Hunting For Lexapro Clocks, Viagra Neckties and Other Vintage Pharmaceutical Merch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zoe Latta, a co-founder of the fashion brand Eckhaus Latta, saw the clock on Instagram and started searching for pharma swag on eBay. \u201cIt was just a hole I got in,\u201d she said. Latta soon rounded up some examples<\/a> at \u201cRotting on the Vine,\u201d her Substack newsletter, describing them as \u201csilly byproducts of our sick sad world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pharma swag feels somewhat like Marlboro Man merch \u2014 \u201clike this very specific modality of our culture that\u2019s changed,\u201d Latta said, adding, \u201cAt first, I thought it was ironic and cheeky. But it\u2019s also so dark.\u201d<\/p>\n

In particular, swag like the OxyContin mugs that read \u201cThe One to Start With. The One to Stay With\u201d is regarded as highly collectible and highly contentious. Jeremy Wells, a newspaper owner and editor in Olive Hill, Ky., remembered, for example, seeing the mugs sold at a Dollar Tree in New Boston, Ohio, in the late 1990s or early 2000s. \u201cAt the same moment that the epidemic is blowing up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can do a chicken-and-egg argument, and I doubt very seriously that those mugs made anybody get addicted,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I do feel like things like those mugs did add to the mystique and the aura of seduction.\u201d (After a protracted lawsuit, Purdue Pharma<\/a>, the maker of OxyContin, has been dissolved and is on the hook to pay more than $5 billion<\/a> in criminal penalties for fueling the opioid epidemic.)<\/p>\n

\u201cI was surprised to see how much this stuff was selling for in general \u2014 there is demand,\u201d Latta said, pointing to a vintage Xanax photo frame listed for $230. Latta said she could imagine buying it for a friend who takes Xanax on planes (\u201cif it was at a thrift store for under $10\u201d) or maybe a pair of Moderna aviator sunglasses that she found, which seem to nod at Covid vaccines and the signature Biden eyewear<\/a>, she said.<\/p>\n

Pharmacore \u2014 medical-branded pieces worn as fashion \u2014 has found new expression at the confluence of identity, medicine and commerce, and at a time when skepticism toward pharmaceuticals is at a high (see: the MAHA movement<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zoe Latta, a co-founder of the fashion brand Eckhaus Latta, saw the clock on Instagram and started searching…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":948189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4315],"tags":[260787,264527,111566,105,4326,264524,264528,264525,264526,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-948188","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-drugs-pharmaceuticals","9":"tag-ebay-inc","10":"tag-etsy-inc","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-medication","13":"tag-memorabilia-and-souvenirs","14":"tag-pharmaceutical-research-and-manufacturers-of-america","15":"tag-t-shirts-apparel","16":"tag-thrift-shops","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116544378395725219","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=948188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/948189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=948188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=948188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=948188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}