 The Men in White - In the early days of
television, actors impersonated doctors in commercials and hawked their sponsor's
medical products, like aspirin, ointments and cough syrup. In 1958, these so called "Men in White" commercials were
outlawed.
In the mid-1980s, the "Men in White" format was slyly resurrected by the makers
of Vick's Formula 44 cough syrup (trade name for Dextromethorphan hydrochloride) who produced commercials where an actor said, "I'm not a
doctor but I play one on TV." The commercial first aired in January 1986.
The TV doctor in the Vicks Formula 44 commercial was played by soap opera
actor Peter Bergman, who appeared at Dr. Cliff Warner on ALL MY CHILDREN from
1979-1989.
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