http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfOQ3O4kD3I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUdpNbESqVI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr-jtbpUtdU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfOQ3O4kD3I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUdpNbESqVI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr-jtbpUtdU
I totally remember that. I've always wondered two things:

1) How many executives fron whatever company that manufactured the Ayds Diet Plan jumped out the 20th story window of their corporate headquarters as soon as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome came to national prominence in the early 1980's?

2) Did they ever reintroduce the Ayds Diet Plan under a less controversial brand name?  ::)

I totally remember that. I've always wondered two things:

1) How many executives fron whatever company that manufactured the Ayds Diet Plan jumped out the 20th story window of their corporate headquarters as soon as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome came to national prominence in the early 1980's?

2) Did they ever reintroduce the Ayds Diet Plan under a less controversial brand name?  ::)

It may be.  I always assumed they took it off the market.  There are similar supplements still around.  I mean, they're not going to say "New Choco-Lites," formerly known as AYDS!"

I'd have to research that.  Company's change product names all the time, but not usually for such an embarrassing reason!  I believe the AYDS (aka Ayd's) diet supplement hit the market c. 1970.  There was also crap like "Figurines," which my teenaged sister used to buy when she was trying to lose weight.  She also used to buy frikkin' Tab, which tasted like some kind of effluvient from the Dow chemcial plant.

Anyway, the funny thing about AYDS is they kept marketing the product after the acronym AIDS had become a household word!  "Ha ha, he has AIDS...she lost 30 pounds thanks to AIDS, ha ha ha!"  Gotta remember, in 1982, a lot more people cracked jokes about AIDS.  It was a new disease that few people understood, and everybody assumed it was just someting that happened to gay men.  Well, that doesn't make it funny, but when you're a kid watching TV with your buddies...
::)

I think they finally quit marketing AIDS in 1983.

"From the makers of  AYDS diet snacks, comes New Syphilis Smoothies!  Yay!"
:P

There was something about this on the 70s board-I think in the thread "Do you remember..."  I think someone said that the AYDS company is now Slimfast-but don't quote me on that.




Cat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayds

SlimFast is owned by the giant Unilever corporation, which bought out Ben & Jerry's  a few years ago.  Not a bad strategy, eh?

AYDS was manufactured by the Dep Corporation, and to my surprise, they kept the product on life support until the late '80.  Miserable sales led the company finally to change the name to Diet Ayds in 1988, before scrapping the product altogehter.  The main ingredient was AYDS was phenylpropanolamine, which the FDA has ruled unsafe. (Warning: the FDA has determined AYDS might be hazardous to your health)

Ganked from an epinions blog:

by thecrazykatl8d
lol! they were AYDS i think. and when i was in 6th grade (1981) my mom had them, and i ate them once.

then a few weeks later at a friend's house her older brother and father were saying this thing called AIDS kills you, and it's probably going to kill a lot of people.' i got really scared that i had eaten the AYDS and thought i was going to die.
i told my mother not to buy them anymore, they aren't safe... and she didn't!  Apr 13 '04

:D

Talk about your unfortunate product naming. But really, I remember these being marketed a couple of years before I ever heard about the AIDS virus. Still, it probably didn't do anything good to their profit margin, considering that one of the symptoms of the virus is rapid and unexplained weight loss. I imagine they either sidelined the product or changed the name.

Talk about your unfortunate product naming. But really, I remember these being marketed a couple of years before I ever heard about the AIDS virus. Still, it probably didn't do anything good to their profit margin, considering that one of the symptoms of the virus is rapid and unexplained weight loss. I imagine they either sidelined the product or changed the name.

Like I said, it took them until 1988 to give up the ghost!