Life, 1914-07-16 · page 40 of 40
Life — July 16, 1914 — page 40: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **product advertisement**, not political satire. It features a woman in exotic costume (appearing to represent an "Oriental" or theatrical character type common in 1914 advertising) posed with decorative foliage. The ad promotes Palmolive Soap through a "Threefold Sample Offer"—consumers could mail five two-cent stamps to receive samples of Palmolive soap, shampoo, and cream. The headline "Why Don't You Use Palmolive Soap?" is a direct sales pitch. The exotic imagery was typical marketing strategy of the era, using glamorous or foreign aesthetics to suggest luxury and sophistication. The B.J. Johnson Soap Company (Milwaukee) manufactured Palmolive. This reflects early 20th-century advertising conventions rather than editorial satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
July 16, 1914 live Soap? fi. Threefold Sample Offer Liberal cake of Palmolive, bottle of Palm. olive Shampoo and a tube of Palmolive Cream, packed in a neat sample package, all mailed on receipt of five two-cent stamps. B. J. JOHNSON SOAP COMPANY, Inc. Milwaukee, Wis, Canadian Factory: B. J. Johnson Soap Company, Ltd, 155-157 George Street, Toronto, Ont.