In as much as his advertising copy portrayed Horlick's Malted Milk as some sort of fix-all elixir; but in that he was simply emulating typical unregulated advertising strategy of the time.
quote:
From February 1898, for a period of some five years, both London and provincial newspapers were bombarded with a constant stream of brief paragraph announcements--advertisements extolling the virtues of Horlick's Malted Milk. They recommended the drink as a cure for dyspepsia, malnutrition, and influenza, as a means of preventing tuberculosis, and as a specific to 'restore balance to deranged constitutions'. Malted Milk would give stamina to cyclists, restore overworked clergymen, business-men, and 'brain workers', and 'spread health instead of typhoid-which cannot always be said of cow's milk', it was presented as a significant factor in winning the South African War, while those who did not drink it appeared to be in imminent danger of serious illness or death. One of the second series of 'paragraphs' is typical:
THE CHILD LOOKS LIKE A CHANGELING. It is quite shrunk and shrivelled; its eyes seem dim; its skin is clammy; it wails rather than cries. And it was such a bonny baby a few weeks back. What can have come over it? In a case like this you may be quite sure that the mischief lies in its food. Give it Horlick's Malted Milk, and you will soon find that it is not a changeling, but your own bonny baby once more. Horlick's Malted Milk is the best food for children in health and sickness. It has saved many little lives when they seemed past all medical aid. All like it, all thrive on it. 'Your chemist will supply it ...
These advertisements had one thing in common: they were all written by A.E. Waite.
The choice of Waite as a copywriter was due to James Elliott, who had set up as an advertising agent after the collapse of the publishing house and had somehow acquired the Horlick's account. So impressed was James Horlick, the English partner of the firm, that he invited Waite to take the post of Manager of the London Office. Waite was offered the appointment in December 1898 but was not able to take it up until the following February, by which time he was suffering from influenza, and on the day he was due to begin work 'reached Victoria more dead than alive and providentially met Elliott by a mere chance. He saw my condition and could think of but one nostrum, being a half tumbler of neat Scotch whisky, adding a splash of water. It was a bad day at the close of February, 1899; and I believe to this moment that the said nostrum saved my life' (SLT, p. 152)
Waite was evidently a man of little faith when it came to the curative value of the product that was about to provide him with his income...
R. A. Gilbert Magician of Many Parts, p.83/84