Life, 1907-12-05 · page 68 of 68
Life — December 5, 1907 — page 68: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a political cartoon or satire**—it's a **commercial advertisement** for Eastman Kodak cameras from December 5, 1907. The page features a sentimental illustration of a mother and child reading together, promoting the idea that families should use Kodak cameras to document Christmas moments and build a "family Kodak Book" over time. The tagline "If it Isn't an Eastman it isn't a Kodak" emphasizes brand superiority and market dominance. The ad targets both adults (with expensive Kodak cameras priced $5-$100) and children (with cheaper Brownie cameras at $1-$9). The marketing strategy—associating photography with family memory-making and Christmas sentiment—was innovative for early 20th-century advertising. There is no political commentary or satirical intent; this represents straightforward product marketing using emotional appeals common to the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
[f it Isn’t an Eastman it isn’t a Kodak The Kodak Christmas Story Wherever children are there’s a Christmas story, yes, an all the year round story for the Kodak to record—a story that grows in interest as the years go by. Let the grown folks with a Kodak and the Children with a Brownie join in building the family Kodak Book. And there's no better way to begin than with pictures of Christmas day. Kodaks, $5.00 to $100.00. Brownies, $1.00 to $9.00. EASTMAN KODAK CO. Rochester, N. Y., The Kodak City. comicbooks.com