Serutan

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Serutan was an early fiber-type laxative product that was widely promoted on U.S. radio and television from the 1930s through the 1960s. Serutan was folded into Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s 1957 acquisition of J. B. Williams Co., founded in 1885.{{Cite news| issn=0362-4331| title=SALES AND MERGERS; Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Telecomputing Corp.| work=The New York Times| accessdate=2017-04-25| date=1957-08-23| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/08/23/archives/sales-and-mergers-pharmaceuticals-inc-telecomputing-corp.html |url-access=subscription}} J. B. Williams Co. was bought out by Nabisco in 1971,{{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}} where it continued to operate as a separate subsidiary{{cite news |date=1972-01-07 |title=Nabisco, Williams to Associate |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/22361154/ |url-access=subscription |work=The Daily Mail |location=Hagerstown, MD |via=Newspapers.com |volume=144 |issue=5 |page=8}} until Nabsico sold it to Beecham Group in 1982{{cite news |date=1982-09-14 |title=Nabisco selling Williams subsidiary |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/303025837/ |url-access=subscription |work=The Miami News |via=Newspapers.com |page=10A}} after nearly a decade of slumping sales.{{cite news |last=Moskowitz |first=Mlton |date=1982-07-06 |title=Dissolving A Poor Team: Nabisco Looks To Sell |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/562298286/ |url-access=subscription |work=Lancaster New Era |via=Newspapers.com |volume=105 |issue=32989 |page=30}}

The origin of the brand name was straightforward. The makers merely decided to spell "natures" backwards, and "Read it backwards" was the product's advertising slogan. This was to differentiate it as being a "natural" product as opposed to laxative brands which stimulated the colon by chemical action.

The product was almost uniformly promoted on programs whose core audience was known to be considerably older than the typical television viewer. Serutan is especially associated with The Lawrence Welk Show and The Original Amateur Hour, both of which were also sponsored by J. B. Williams products Sominex, a sleeping pill, and Geritol, a vitamin supplement. Serutan was the target of numerous jokes by Bob Hope and other radio comedians during the 1930s and 1940s.