Life — May 27, 1915 — page 2: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This page is primarily a **cigarette advertisement** for Omar Turkish Blend Cigarettes by The American Tobacco Company, not political satire. The illustration depicts an **Orientalist fantasy scene**: two women in harem-style costumes in an exotic setting, reflecting early 20th-century Western stereotypes about the Ottoman Empire and "the Orient." The quote attributed to "Omar" ("All the Sea's self should heed a pebble cast") appears to invoke exotic/poetic authority to market the product. The ad emphasizes the cigarettes' Turkish origin, listing Ottoman regions (Bafra, Samsoun, Cavalla, Serres, Yaka) to suggest authenticity and quality. The price point—"20 for 15c"—indicates this was an affordable mass-market product. This represents **Orientalism as marketing**: exotic imagery used to make a domestic American product seem sophisticated and desirable to consumers.