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Newspaper advertisements were frequently available as one way of communicating news about new products to the general public during the middle of the Meiji Era. The first newspaper advertisement of "Fujisawa Camphor"' appeared in the Osaka Asahi on June 1, 1989. At that time, the newspaper advertisements of OTC were brilliant and the space taken by them was large, in some cases covering a full page. They appeared daily. However, the ad for Fujisawa Camphors was small and simple. The appeal points of the Fujisawa Camphor advertisement were as follows: 1. Fujisawa Camphor, crystals of refined camphor, are hard and colorless.2. It is effective for insecticide and prevents moisture.3. It is widely used by governments and the military.4. It removes bad smell to protect against infectious diseases.

Newspaper advertisements were the predominant medium in informing people about new products midway through the Meiji Era. Subscribers to these newspapers, however, were still limited. At the time, expositions were wildly popular. Seizing the opportunity , in 1903 Fujisawa promoted his "Fujisawa Camphor" through aggressive advertising at the 5th Domestic Industrial Exposition in Osaka. The advertising proved to be a success, as Fujisawa took 2nd Prize of the exposition.

Medical advertisements in newspapers have been used quite often as a means of sales promotion since the Meiji Era. Medical advertisements were quantitatively the leading advertisements in Japanese newspapers from the Taisho Era to early in the Showa Era. When World War II broke out, the quanity of advertisements in newspapers decreased markedly. After the war ended, the quantity of radio commercials for medicine increased quite rapidly. In the 1960s, however, pharmaceutical companies were criticized for over-promoting and improperly using medicines.

In February 1869, the government first permitted newspapers to be published. The Yokohama-mainichi, the Tokyo-nichi-nichi, the Nisshin-shinjishi and so on were published. The traders of medicine quickly turned their attention to the newspapers. Jihei Morita put an advertisement about "Houtan" in the newspaper issued in July in the 4th year of the Meiji era (1871) and Ginko Kishida put an advertisement about "Seikisui" in the Mainichi in Yokohama dated August 18th in the 4th year of the Meiji era. After that, the traders of medicine advertised in newspapers one after another, and the contents of advertisements were expressly the efficacy of medicine. As Yukichi Fukuzawa doubted if the trend was really desirable, he carried his comment against the trend in the Katei Sodan published by Keio-Gijuku, but the contents of advertisements were not changed. Advertisements emphasising the efficacy of medicine were prominent.

After the conclusion of the trial was carried out on december 25th in the 18th year of the Meiji era, write-ups decreased graduallly. Under these circumstances, the traders of medicine began their own publication at their convenience and they put advertisements in them. "Eisei-tebako" by "Kishida ginko" and "Houtan-keikenroku" by "Morita Jihei" were the typical of them. While patent medicines were extremely popular, pharmacists at that time never denied the necessity of patent medicines. Junichiro Shimoyama and Keizo Tanba, who were representatives of pharmacists in Japan, suggested that pharmacists had ought to manage patent medicines and pointed out that excessive write-ups exacerbated the situation.

On January 20th of the 10th year of the Meiji era (1877) the government enforced the laws regulating patent medicines. Since then patent medicines were frequently attacked in the newspapers. Abuses of patent medicines became the target of criticism. Yukichi Fukuzawa had carried his comments against abusing patent medicines in "Minkanzasshi" for 4 days from March 24th in the 11th year of the Meiji era. Abuses of patent medicines prevented medical science from progressing. He pointed out the responsibility of newspapers which printed advertisement of ineffective patent medicines. "The kanayomi" which was a small newspaper company refuted his comments. Jihei Morita published the magazine "Houtan" in person, and he ran many advertisements about patent medicines. In October in the 15th year of the Meiji era, the law, which imposed a tax on patent medicines was enacted. In addition to the censure against patent medicines were an account in the newspaper successively. However, at the same time, these accounts had serious consequences the traders of medicine and they went to law by the reason which they led to serious interference with their business.

Ginko Kishida, who was a journalist formerly, took advantage of newpaper to publicize ophthalmicus. He put an advertisement expressed by only characters in Yokohama-mainichi-shinbun just founded. After that, he employed advertisement with illustration. In the beginning, the advertisement laid stress on spreading the name of the ophthalmicus, "Seikisui." The advertisement published in Meiji 8th, appealed variation of ophthalmic diseases and their causes, besides it expressed effective of "Seikisui." His contributions to convey the information of drug were difficult to distinguish between advertisement and articles. Nowadays, advertisement of drug imitating the articles are popular. Needless to say, Ginko Kishida was the pioneer of the style of present advertisement of drug.