Life — March 25, 1909 — page 6: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This is **an advertisement, not satire or political cartoon**. It promotes Ivory Soap using a visual pun. The image shows a globe emerging from a large clam shell—a clever visual metaphor since the ad emphasizes purity and uses Webster's Dictionary definition of "pure" as the selling point. The globe represents global reach or the world market. The text argues that Ivory Soap's appeal has evolved: twenty years prior, consumers viewed it merely as a bath soap, but intelligent people now recognize its superiority for toilet use specifically *because* of its purity. The pun works by suggesting the soap comes from the "world's soap box"—a sealed, pristine container. **Design Patent date: Aug. 26, 1919** (visible on the soap bars). Price: 99 4/100 percent pure.