Life, 1915-10-28 · page 52 of 52
Life — October 28, 1915 — page 52: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **tobacco advertisement**, not satire or political commentary. It appears in *Life* magazine from October 28, 1915. The image shows well-dressed men at what appears to be a sporting event (racing cars visible in background), with the headline "Good Sport and Good Smoke Go Together." This associates Bull Durham tobacco with leisure, masculinity, and affluence. The advertisement promotes "roll-your-own" cigarettes using Bull Durham tobacco—positioning this as a novel, superior practice. The copy emphasizes freshness, quality Virginia-North Carolina tobacco, and offers a free instructional booklet on hand-rolling cigarettes. **Modern context**: This predates mass-market factory cigarettes' dominance and reflects early-20th-century marketing linking tobacco to active, healthy masculinity and good sportsmanship—claims that would later be recognized as misleading health advertising. The "free sample" offer was standard promotional practice of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Good Sport and Good Smoke Go Together There's more crisp, brisk, youthful vigor in an ounce of “Bull” Durham than in a pound of any other tobacco ever rolled up into a cigarette. It's the co-partner of the go-ahead spirit —the delight of the fresh, unjaded taste that goes with enthusiasm and energy. Ths grand old tobacco—the favorite of three generations—is today the liveliest smoke in the whole world. GENUINE 6 oo Bu LL Du RHAM \ BES package of ‘ “popers’’ with \ each Se sack SMOKING TOBACCO Within the last two years the “roll-your-own” idea has spread amazingly. Thousands of men have learned that their own hand-rolled “Bull” Durham cigarettes have a freshness and fragrance impossible to obtain in any other way. Made exclusively from mild, ripe Virginia-North Carolina “bright” tobacco leaf, “Bull” Durham is unique in its mellow- sweet flavor. Try it once and you'll smoke it always. An Illustrated Booklet, show- FRE ing correct way to “Roll Your Own” Cigarettes, and a package of cigarette papers, will both be mailed, Sree, to any address in U. S. on request. Address “Bull” Durham, Durham, N. C. Room 1295. THE AMERICAN TOBACCO COMPANY comicbooks.com