[8] The original effervescent formula has aspirin as its main active ingredient, and is marketed for pain relief.

Though important to the overall effect of the medication, the aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) is not required to produce the effervescent action of Alka-Seltzer; the effervescence is produced by the baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and citric acid reacting to form sodium citrate and carbon dioxide gas.

Print advertising was used immediately, and in 1932 the radio show Alka-Seltzer Comedy Star of Hollywood began, with National Barn Dance following in 1933, along with many more.

In the early 1960s, a commercial showing two tablets dropping into a glass of water instead of the usual one caused sales to double.

[citation needed] Alka-Seltzer TV ads from the 1960s and 1970s in the US were among the most popular of the 20th century, ranking number 13, according to Advertising Age.

The commercial became so popular that several weeks later, Raft appeared as a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

"[citation needed] Alka-Seltzer had a series of commercials during the mid-1960s that used a song called "No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach's In)".

A clip of the ad can be seen briefly in the 1988 motion picture The In Crowd, immediately before the movie's first live broadcast of the fictitious "Perry Parker's Dance Party."

"[9] A 1970 commercial shows a newlywed couple in the bedroom after the woman (played by Alice Playten) has finished serving her husband (played by Terry Kiser) a giant dumpling; the implication is that her cooking skills are severely lacking, despite her husband's lament, "I can't believe I ate that whole thing!

When she hears the fizzy noise coming from the bathroom, he quickly covers the glass of dissolving Alka-Seltzer as she wonders aloud if it is raining.

Just when he has recovered his well-being, he hears her misreading recipes for dinner the next night: "Marshmallowed meatballs," "medium salad snails," and "pouched (actually poached) oysters".

[12] In 1972, an actor (Milt Moss) spent the commercial moaning, "I can't believe I ate that who-o-o-o-o-ole thing" while his wife (Lynn Whinic) made sarcastic comments and finally advised him to take some Alka-Seltzer.

[13] In 2005, this ad was also remade, featuring Peter Boyle and Doris Roberts from the 1996–2005 TV sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond.

The character was conceived by creative directors Bob Watkins and Chuck Tennant of the Wade Advertising agency and designed by illustrator Wally Wood.

Buster Keaton appeared along with the animated Speedy Alka-Seltzer figure in a series of 1950s commercials based on the product slogan, "Relief is just a swallow away."

Both the big band and rock versions had additional lyrics (with at least one verse unique to each song) written by Tom Dawes, former lead singer of The Cyrkle who wrote the original jingle.

Speedy was again revived in 2008 when Alka-Seltzer began a series of new commercials featuring him (using a CGI character created by animation director David Hulin to recreate the stop-motion puppetry of the 1950s and 1960s); in these ads, he was voiced by Debi Derryberry.