Life, 1909-03-25 · page 6 of 36
Life — March 25, 1909 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
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.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A PURE SOAP IN THE WORLD'S SOAP BOX. Webster's Dictionary defines “purity” as “the condition of being pure.” Pure is defined as “free from that which harms, vitiates, weakens or pollutes; genuine; real.” This definition fits Ivory Soap exactly. It is “free from that which harms, vitiates, weakens or pollutes.” It is genuine. It is real. Twenty years ago, pretty nearly everybody looked upon Ivory Soap as merely a bath and fine laundry soap. They do so no longer. Intelligent men and women, all over the country, have awakened to the fact that purity is more important than perfume. And they use Ivory Soap for the toilet, as well as for the bath, not because it is cheap, but because it is pure. Can you think of a better reason? Ivory Soap . . . 99460 Per Cent. Pure. NOTE—With a stout thread, it is a very easy matter to cut a cake of Ivory Soap into two cakes of convenient size for toilet use. comicbooks.com