Judge — October 23, 1920 — page 32: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is primarily a **cigarette advertisement** for Chesterfield, not a political cartoon. The narrative depicts a humorous domestic scene: a man's wife persuades him to get professional portrait photographs taken. When the photographer shows the results to critics (both amateur and professional), they respond with questions suggesting the photos look unnatural ("Doesn't he look natural?" "Has it got a tail?"). The joke plays on the husband's displeasure with the unflattering portraits. His wife's solution is to use Chesterfield cigarettes as a prop—the "nice full pack" visible in the final photo apparently satisfies him enough to approve the pictures. The advertisement suggests that Chesterfield cigarettes improve one's appearance or mood sufficiently to make even bad photographs acceptable. The illustration uses cartoon figures and light satire typical of Judge magazine's advertising style, but the primary purpose is commercial product promotion rather than social or political commentary.