“Fight mouthwash. Eat garlic”

“Fight mouthwash. Eat garlic” is a jocular saying that has been printed on bumper stickers. The message was displayed at the Gilroy Garlic Festival at Gilroy, California, in August 1980.
 
The garlic saying was probably coined by L. John Harris, author of The Book of Garlic (1974) and The Official Garlic Lovers Handbook (1986).
   
 
4 August 1980, The Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS), “Garlic fest—it’s enough to take your breath away,” pg. 1, cols. 1-2:
GILROY, Calif. (AP)—Gilroy claims to be the garlic capital of the world and the city proved this weekend that its main crop is, indeed, enough to take one’s breath away.
(...)
At the Lovers of the Stinking Rose Society booth, founder L. John Harris extolled the pleasures of garlic under signs that read, “Fight Mouthwash. Eat Garlic.”
   
Google Books
1 January 1981, Jetmagazine, pg. 18, col. 2:
More than 30,000 people at the garlicfest wolfed down garlic- laced pasta, other delicacies, and wore buttons that read, “Raise A Stink— Grow Garlic” and “Fight Mouthwash. Eat Garlic.”
     
Google Books
Food in Motion:
The Migration of Foodstuffs and Cookery Techniques, Volume 2 (Oxford SYmposium)
Edited by Alan Davidson
Leeds, UK: Prospect Books
1983
Pg. 160:
As a last choice, you may wish to ignore it altogether and instead follow the advice of the ‘Lovers of the Stinking Rose’, who have a slogan which reads, ‘FIGHT MOUTHWASH, EAT GARLIC’.
 
Google Books
Herbal Bounty!:
The Gentle Art of Herb Culture
By Steven Foster
Salt Lake City, UT: G.M. Smith
1984
Pg. 100:
And to quote a bumper sticker, “Fight mouthwash -eat garlic.”
 
Google Books
Documenting Ourselves:
Film, Video, and Culture
By Sharon R. Sherman
Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky
1998
Pg. 105:
A reverse message on a sign behind La Vieille Maison in Truckee, California, reads “Fight mouthwash, eat garlic.
 
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Rebecca Eisenberg‏
@ryeisenberg
Fight mouthwash, eat garlic!
8:50 AM - 30 Sep 2008
 
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veselyak‏
@veselyak
Fight mouthwash - eat garlic!
12:09 PM - 25 Apr 2011
 
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sOuL from the O‏
@sOuL11525
“Fight mouthwash, eat garlic” #aBumperStickerInTraffic
9:56 AM - 24 Feb 2012
 
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TORONTO GARLIC FEST‏
@TorontoGarlic
Fight mouthwash. Eat garlic. (photo: John Harris, The Book of garlic)
3:47 PM - 30 May 2012