Life, 1914-06-04 · page 52 of 52
Life — June 4, 1914 — page 52: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a straightforward **product advertisement**, not satire. It promotes Colgate & Co.'s talc powder for summer use, marketed primarily to women and mothers. The imagery shows three scenes: a mother with a baby, and two women using the powder for summer comfort. The central display showcases multiple scent varieties (Cashmere Bouquet, Violet, etc.), emphasizing choice. The marketing pitch emphasizes practical summer benefits—cooling, comfort, reducing perspiration and "hot-weather stickiness"—while also claiming the boric acid formula is "safest and best for you and your children." This reflects early 20th-century attitudes toward talc and boric acid as beneficial personal hygiene products. The ad offers a trial box for four cents in stamps, a common direct-mail marketing tactic of the era. This represents standard commercial advertising of its period, before modern concerns about talc safety emerged.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
June 4, 1914 GATE’S POWDER for everybody’s summer— Because it is the real boric powder that is safest and best for you and your children Because it makes summer dressing comfortable Because it is delightfully refreshing after sunbum Because it helps to overcome hot-weather stickiness Because of its wide choice of perfumes to suit every preference. Baby Talc (new), Cashmere Bouquet, Violet, Eclat, Monad Violet, La France Rose, Dactylis, Tinted, Unscented. Your dealer has Colgate'’s Talc—or send 4 cents in stamps for a dainty trial box. COLGATE & CO. Dept. 23, 199 Fulton St., New York City