Judge, 1912-01-20 · page 24 of 24
Judge — January 20, 1912 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **product advertisement**, not political satire. It promotes Wrigley's Spearmint gum, emphasizing bulk purchasing ("by the box") as economical. The ad employs comedic exaggeration typical of early 20th-century marketing: it claims gum is needed constantly—when eating, smoking, or wanting to smoke—and promises benefits like "breath purifying" and "teeth preserving." The circular text uses absurdist logic to convince consumers that buying twenty-package boxes is cheaper than individual packages. The illustration shows a well-dressed man carrying an enormous gum box, visually emphasizing the "buy by the box" message. The tagline "Look For The Spear / The Flavor Lasts" references Wrigley's iconic spear logo. This reflects early advertising's aggressive, humorous approach to creating consumer demand through repetition and dubious health claims—practices that would later face regulatory scrutiny.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Buy it by the Box of any dealer Every time you eat you need it. Every time you smoke you need it. Every time you should eat, and don't feel hungry, you need it. Every time you feel like smoking, and don't want to, you need it. And every time you need it, you have it, if you buy it by the box. This breath purifying, teeth preserving, appetite and diges- tion aiding dainty costs little by the package, but less by the box of twenty packages. This beneficial confection 1s the Look For The Spear confection you want your The Flavor Lasts family to chew, isn’t it? comicbooks.com