Life, 1912-07-04 · page 31 of 44
Life — July 4, 1912 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **public service advertisement** (not satire) warning Americans about **counterfeit Gordon's Dry Gin** flooding the U.S. market. The image shows fake bottles masquerading as the genuine London product. The ad claims 80 different forgeries exist—fraudulent bottles containing only "alcohol, water and essences" rather than legitimately distilled gin. The composite photograph displays 10 examples of these counterfeits. The purpose is consumer protection: while the ad acknowledges honest competition among gin producers, it specifically objects to counterfeiters misusing the "GORDON" brand name, deceiving consumers who believe they're purchasing authentic London gin. This reflects early 20th-century concerns about product counterfeiting and brand protection before modern regulations existed.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
-LIFE: WHE UNITED STATES ler) of pure Gin, “Dry,” “Old Tom” and “Sloe,” | ed/as evidenced by the large sales to dis- ini|minds honest competition, but when edwhichendanger public ggg " M)for Safety. , This is a composite photographic reproduction of 10 of the 80 forgeries or imitations of GORDON DRY GIN, some of which are not ALCOHOL, WATER and ESSENCES |masquerading as Gin! nattidistillation but we do object to such hink'they are using GORDON, and we cent consumer. tbleeverywhere in the United States A FORGERY LUROAD, LONDON, ENGLAND 1359 er . comicbooks.com