Life, 1902-12-25 · page 25 of 77
Life — December 25, 1902 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **soap advertisement**, not political satire. It promotes "No. 4711" glycerine soap, manufactured in Cologne, Germany, by Ferd. Mülhens. The advertisement uses a romanticized illustration of a woman in an elegant dress examining flowers and soap boxes. The tagline "Transparent as Crystal / Fragrant as Flowers" emphasizes the product's purity and fragrance. The marketing leverages prestige by claiming the soap was "used for years in the Court of H.I.M. the Emperor of Russia"—suggesting royal approval enhanced the product's luxury appeal to American consumers. The ad emphasizes the soap's gentleness for delicate skin, a common sales pitch for Victorian-era beauty products. This represents early 20th-century consumer advertising rather than editorial content or satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
(_GEY.GERINEZSOAP.,, I> meet TRANSPARENT .AS CRYSTAL: FRAGRANT AS FLOWERS # The best glycerine Soap, “No. 4711.” Its purity is absolute ; its perfume unequalled. Used for years in the Court of H. |. M. the Emperor of Russia. Can be applied to the most tender and delicate skin. Manufactured by FERD. MULHENS, Cologne 0/R, Germany. Sole U. S. Agents, MULHENS & KROPFF, 298 Broadway, New York. Send 15 cents for full size sample cake. comicbooks.com