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As the nineteenth century marched on, patent-medicine makers, excited by advertising’s power to differentiate their products, invested heavily in print ads developed and placed by ad agencies. But many patent medicines (which consisted of mostly water and high concentrations of ethyl alcohol) made outrageous claims about the medical problems they could cure. The misleading ads spawned public cynicism. As a result, advertisers began to police their own ranks and developed industry codes to restore consumers’ confidence. Partly to monitor patent medicine claims, Congress passed the Federal Food and Drugs Act in 1906.