When I was young there was a diet aid call Ayds (I’m unsure of the spelling.) They were little candie caramels that came in a few different flavors. It seemed to work well and except for an unfortunate name that would later sound like a disease, I thought it was a good product. Does anyone know why it was discontinued?
I always assumed the name is what killed it. Of course, it was named before AIDS was coined, so it wasn’t really their fault. I remember my Mom using this product in the 70’s.
My mom used these as well! I remember eating them as a kid- 3rd grade I believe. I would grab a handful and take em to school, lol.
Think it was the name, and the fact that it is a silly way to lose weight. 
From what I understand, it was the name… and the “AIDS horror” of the mid-eighties that killed it. You remember, back when everyone was skeered they were gonna die?
They tried doing some damage control… renaming the product “Diet AYDS”, but considering AIDS was already becoming known as “slim disease” in Africa, that wasn’t much help.
I’m guessing that it was just a combination of market forces. The brand name was so strongly identified with the product that I don’t think they could have weathered a name change.
And also, it might have just been that its time was up. It apparently worked by numbing your mouth with benzocaine, and maybe it was just that people didn’t want to try to lose weight anymore that way.
http://w3.uokhsc.edu/phar5442/Lectures/drugtreatmentobesity.html
Other weight loss drugs started coming along and I’m guessing Ayds was just supplanted.
Epimetheus, I got sent home with a nasty letter for bringing Ayds to school in fourth grade. (That just sounds wrong.) They were Cherry flavoured.
Retrocrush concurs with the obvious observation that the name simply took on an unmarketable connotation as time went by
(The package shown there isn’t the one I remember, which I believe featured a red-and-white check-pattern. Not sure if it’s a regional or temporal difference.)
Larry, the package in the Retrocrush link is of chocolate flavored AYDS, you are probably remembering the cherry package. My Mom used the chocolate, and that picture looks right to me.
I recall that, very shortly after the AIDS epidemic became well known, the makers of Ayds publicly stated that they would not be changing the product name. I thought that was a pretty dumb stand at the time, since people in the last stages of the disease always seemed to suffer a severe weight loss. I’m amazed that, as the above post shows, they still hadn’t changed the name by 1999. Isn’t this like trying to sell a cigarette called “Kanser”?
On the subject of products named after sexually transmitted diseases, in the UK there was a sink scouring cream called “Jif”. Apparently due to a clash with another Jif, an American brand of peanut butter, it was renamed “Cif” (pronounced “syph”) a few years ago. I can’t imagine how this name got through the approval process.
What I don’t get is if it was the name, then why didn’t they just change the name & remarket it like other products do? I remember them too, the chocolate ones but never tried one.
They were ineffective. I ate a box of them a day for a month. Never lost weight.
Here, try this: ebay.com search for ‘ayds’ search only completed auctions…youll see a big list of sales for posters for Ayds from 50s! Here is one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3304255096&category=2312
Now wait a minute. Do you think customers are really so dumb that they would stop buying the product because it was called Ayds? If customers enjoy a product, and are loyal to it, they will get over the name.
I don’t have their financial statements, but I think the reason the company waited until 1999 to think about changing their name is because maybe it was more costly to change the name and remarket their product than to keep it because of a little bad press.
Besides, AIDS is not Ayds fault anyway. Should the rock band Anthrax change it’s name?
Yeah, but can you imagine working in a store, and having a customer come in and say, “You got Ayds?” Do you really want to answer “Yes!” to that question? I can remember when AIDS first burst on the scene and there were all kinds of Ayds jokes (sadly, I don’t remember any of them to provide an example).
Well, The Onion has only been in existence since 1995 so their parody was actually written long after that date.
Oh come on. How many customers are actually going to walk into a store and say that?
If anything, this whole controversy has been incredible publicity for the product.
Hey, Vinnie, ever work in a store? Believe me, you get asked all kinds of questions! (“Where’s your Kentucky Jelly?” is a “favorite” of mine. Uh, nimrod, it’s KY Jelly!)
It was written this week, in fact. Note the date at the top.