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{{Short description|Dietary supplement brand}}
{{infobox brand
| name           = Geritol 
| logo           = 
| image          = [[Image:Geritol tonic.jpg|200px]]
| caption        = A four-ounce bottle of Geritol tonic with a [[Child-resistant packaging|child-resistant safety cap]]
| type           = [[Dietary supplement]]
| currentowner   = [[Viatris]]
| origin         = United States
| introduced     = 1950
| discontinued   = 
| related        = 
| markets        = 
| previousowners = Pharmaceuticals, Inc.<br>J.B. Williams<br>[[Beecham Group]]<br>SmithKline Beecham<br>[[GlaxoSmithKline]]<br> Meda Consumer Healthcare ([[Mylan]])
| trademarkregistrations = 
| ambassadors    = 
| tagline        =
| website        = {{URL|http://www.geritol.com/}}
}}
[[File:Geritol tablets.jpg|thumb|Geritol tablets]]
'''Geritol''' is a United States trademarked name for various dietary supplements, past and present.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lohas.com/articles/67234.html|title=SmithKline Beecham Publishes Geritol Protection Trademark|website=LOHAS Weekly Newsletter|date=September 1, 1999|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090511223411/http://www.lohas.com/articles/67234.html|archive-date=2009-05-11}}</ref>  Geritol is a brand name for several vitamin complexes plus iron or multimineral products in both liquid form and tablets containing from 9.5 to 18&nbsp;mg of [[iron]] per daily dose.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.geritol.com/information.aspx|title=Geritol Complete Information|website=GlaxoSmithKline, official Geritol information site for U.S. residents|date=2008|access-date=May 9, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080430172636/http://www.geritol.com/information.aspx|archive-date=April 30, 2008}}</ref> The name conveys a connection with aging, as in "[[geriatrics|geriatric]]". The product has been promoted from almost the beginning of the mass media era as a cure for "iron-poor tired blood".

==History==
Geritol was introduced as an alcohol-based, [[Human iron metabolism|iron]] and [[B vitamins|B vitamin]] tonic by Pharmaceuticals, Inc., in August 1950 and primarily marketed as such into the 1970s. Geritol was folded into Pharmaceuticals' 1957 acquisition of J. B. Williams Co., founded in 1885.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lib.uconn.edu/online/research/speclib/ASC/findaids/JBWilliams/MSS19670001.html|title=J. B. Williams Company Records, 1853–1956|website=Archives & Special Collections, Thomas J. Dodd Center, University of Connecticut|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060129204143/http://www.lib.uconn.edu/online/research/speclib/ASC/findaids/JBWilliams/MSS19670001.html|archive-date=January 29, 2006}}</ref> J. B. Williams Co. was bought by [[Nabisco]] in 1971.<ref>{{cite news |date=1971-07-10 |title=Nabsico-Williams |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/128223688/ |url-access=subscription |work=[[The Des Moines Register]] |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |volume=125 |issue=15 |page=11}}</ref> In 1982, the Geritol product name was acquired by the multinational pharmaceutical firm [[Beecham Group|Beecham]] (later [[GlaxoSmithKline]]).<ref>{{cite web |date=2003-09-15 |title=Geritol |url=https://adage.com/article/adage-encyclopedia/geritol/98487 |url-access=subscription |website=AdAge Encyclopedia}}</ref> Geritol was acquired by [[Meda AB|Meda Pharmaceutical]] in 2011.<ref>{{cite press release|last=Comer |first=Ben|date=2011-01-05|title=GSK launches new Alli spots, hands five OTC brands to Meda|url=http://www.mmm-online.com/gsk-launches-new-alli-spots-hands-five-otc-brands-to-meda/article/193721/ |website=Medical Marketing and Media}}</ref> Meda was acquired by [[Mylan]] in 2016.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Grover |first=Natalie |title=Mylan to buy Swedish drugmaker Meda in $7.2 billion deal |work=[[Reuters]] |access-date=2017-04-25 |date=2016-02-11 |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-meda-m-a-mylan-nl-idUSKCN0VJ2IK}}</ref>

The earlier Geritol liquid formulation was advertised as "twice the iron in a pound of calf's liver", and daily doses contained about 50–100 milligrams of iron as [[ferric ammonium citrate]]. The Geritol tonic contained about 12% alcohol and some B vitamins.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

==Federal Trade Commission investigation==
Geritol was the subject of years of investigation starting in 1959 by the [[Federal Trade Commission]] (FTC). In 1965, the FTC ordered the makers of Geritol to disclose that Geritol would relieve symptoms of tiredness only in persons who suffer from [[iron deficiency anemia]], and that the vast majority of people who experience such symptoms do not have such a deficiency.  Geritol's claims were discredited in court findings as "conduct amounted to [[gross negligence]] and bordered on recklessness", ruled as a false and misleading claim, and heavily penalized with fines totaling $812,000 (equivalent to [[$]]{{Format price|{{Inflation|US|812000|1973}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}} dollars),{{Inflation-fn|US}} the largest FTC fine up to that date (1973).<ref name="time">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,906840,00.html|title=Geritol's Bitter Pill|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=February 5, 1973|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081214084141/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,906840,00.html|archive-date=December 14, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite court|url=https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F2/381/381.F2d.884.16969.html|vol=381|reporter=F.2d|opinion=884|litigants=The J. B. WILLIAMS COMPANY, Inc., and Parkson Advertising Agency, Inc., Petitioner, v. Federal Trade Commission, Respondent|court=United States Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit|date=August 11, 1967}}</ref> Although subsequent trials and appeals from 1965 to 1973 concluded that some of the FTC demands exceeded its authority, Geritol was already well known and continued to be the largest U.S. company selling iron and B-vitamin supplements through 1979.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

A 1976 settlement agreement between J.B. Williams & Co. and the FTC had the company agreeing to pay $125,000<ref>{{cite news |last=Donnelon |first=Bill |date=1976-02-01 |title=Continuing Saga of the FDA |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/253950159/ |url-access=subscription |newspaper=[[Daily Record (New Jersey)|Daily Record]] |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |volume=76 |issue=185 |page=B3}}</ref> (${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|125,000|1976}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}} dollars).{{Inflation-fn|US}}

Since then, supplemental iron products, including Geritol, have been contraindicated because of concerns over [[iron overload|hemochromatosis]],<ref>[http://egov.oregon.gov/DHS/ph/cdsummary/1997/ohd4616.pdf "HEMOCHROMATOSIS: A COMMON (YET PREVENTABLE) CHRONIC DISEASE"], ''CD Summary'', Vol. 46, No. 16. August 5, 1997.</ref><ref>[http://dietary-supplements.info.nih.gov/factsheets/iron.asp''Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet: Iron''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090531085023/http://dietary-supplements.info.nih.gov/factsheets/iron.asp |date=2009-05-31 }}
  	Office of Dietary Supplements • National Institutes of Health. August 24, 2007.  Retrieved May 26, 2009</ref> and serious questions raised in studies for men, postmenopausal women, and nonanemic patients with liver disease, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, or cancer.<ref>{{cite book| first=Thomas F.| last=Emery| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jxsw4tPVUdUC&q=hemachromatosis&pg=PA1| title=Iron and Your Health: Facts and Fallacies| publisher=CRC Press| date=May 21, 1991| isbn=978-0-8493-6763-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| first=Randall B.| last=Lauffer| pages=13–15| date=August 5, 1992| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=55PJK-1EWEgC&q=overload| title=Iron and Human Disease| publisher=CRC Press| isbn=978-0-8493-6779-3}}</ref>

==Media sponsorships==
One of Geritol’s first [[Brand ambassador|brand ambassadors]] was [[Betty White]] on [[The Betty White Show (1952 TV series)|''The Betty White Show'']] in the 1950s.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs1wgy2G7WE |title=Arthur Duncan on The Betty White Show (1954) {{!}} Tap Dance |date=2022-01-04 |last=Reelblack One |access-date=2025-09-09 |via=YouTube}}</ref>

In the early days of [[television]], the marketing of Geritol was involved in the [[1950s quiz show scandals|quiz show scandal]], as the sponsor of ''[[Twenty-One (game show)|Twenty-One]]''. For many years after that, Geritol was largely marketed on television programs that appealed primarily to older viewers, such as ''[[The Lawrence Welk Show]]'', ''[[What's My Line?]]'', ''[[The Red Skelton Show]]'', ''[[To Tell the Truth]]'', ''[[Hee Haw]]'', and  ''[[Original Amateur Hour|Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour]]'', as well as [[Arthur Godfrey]]'s daily show. It was also one of the sponsors of the original ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]'' series.<ref>{{cite book| first1=Herb| last1=Solow| first2=Bob| last2=Justman| title=Inside Star Trek: The Real Story| url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780671896287/mode/2up| publisher=Pocket Books| year=1996| isbn=978-0-6718-9628-7}}{{page needed|date=October 2024}}</ref>

== In popular culture ==
Geritol was often used in the 1960s as a [[punch line]] for a joke in sitcoms or in comedy routines; comic singer [[Allan Sherman]] referenced Geritol on his 1962 album ''[[My Son, the Folk Singer]]'', singing "Yasha got a bottle of Geritol" to the tune of "[[Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho|Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho]]".

Geritol is famous for a controversial 1972 television commercial tag line, "My wife, I think I'll keep her."<ref name="time"/> This line, brought out during the height of the [[Women's Liberation Movement]], was not appreciated by some women and was lambasted by news and comedy shows.{{Citation needed|date=November 2016}} Comedian [[Robert Klein]] commented on his 1972 album ''Child of the Fifties'':{{Citation needed|date=November 2016}}  "Where does he get the nerve?...  She has to keep begging him, "Will you keep me one more day?"  "All right, one more day:  now, get back to the kitchen!" The line was the inspiration for [[Mary Chapin Carpenter]]'s 1993 song "[[He Thinks He'll Keep Her]]".<ref>''[[WomaNews]]''.  "Smart Talk: Shortcuts". ''[[Chicago Tribune]]''. September 6, 1992.</ref>

During her 1990 ''Blond Ambition World Tour'', Madonna joked to a low-energy Houston audience, “Should I pass out some Geritol or what?”—a reference to the supplement’s association with aging and fatigue, used here to humorously suggest the crowd lacked vitality.<ref>Madonna. “Blond Ambition Tour – Live from Houston (May 4, 1990).” ''YouTube'', uploaded by The Beast Within, 7 October 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iDdem3GrP4&t=3469s. Accessed 1 July 2025.</ref>

In 1992, George Jones used the line "I don't need your rockin' chair, your Geritol or your Medicare" in his song "[[I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair]]".

In 1994, a reunion of members of [[Bill Haley & His Comets]] released the album ''You're Never Too Old to Rock'' (Hydra Records BCK 27013). One track, "Let's Rock and Roll Some More" features 70-year-old drummer Dick Richards singing "We've been away a while, but we ain't gone&nbsp;/ Take a Geritol and put your dancin' shoes on."

In the 2002 stage musical ''[[Hairspray (musical)|Hairspray]]'', Edna and Wilbur Turnblad sing to each other of love as they grow old in the song "Timeless to Me". In one line, Edna sings "Pass that Geritol!"<ref>{{cite web| title=(You're) Timeless To Me lyrics| url=https://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/hairspray/youretimelesstome.htm| website=ST Lyrics| access-date=October 8, 2024}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Hadacol]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
* [http://www.geritol.com Official website]

{{Quiz show scandals}}

[[Category:Products introduced in 1950]]
[[Category:Dietary supplements]]
[[Category:Nabisco brands]]
[[Category:Drugs developed by GSK plc]]