Life, 1916-03-23 · page 52 of 52
Life — March 23, 1916 — page 52: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **Grape-Nuts cereal advertisement**, not political satire. Published in *Life* magazine (March 23, 1916), it uses a spiritual analogy to market breakfast food. The ad references the Biblical passage "Consider the lilies of the field" (Matthew 6:28), comparing the lily's brief life to human mortality ("three score years and ten"—70 years). The clever pitch claims that just as lilies need natural nourishment, humans require mineral phosphates for proper health—which Grape-Nuts allegedly provides. The illustrated lily in a vase represents natural vitality. The ad's tagline, "There's a Reason," was Grape-Nuts' actual advertising slogan during this era. **For modern readers**: This exemplifies early 20th-century health-food marketing that blended religious/philosophical language with pseudoscientific nutrition claims to sell processed cereals as "natural" and health-promoting—techniques still familiar today.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“Consider the Lilies of the Field, How They Grow”’ The life of the lily is but a few transient hours. The life of man is “three score years and ten.” But to live his life in its fulness, man-—like the lily— must be nour- ished by those same vital elements which Nature provides for nourish- ing every living thing: and these include the valuable mineral phos- phates so often lacking in the usual dietary. Grape-Nuts food is rich in these wonderful elements. It has delicious taste, is made of the entire nutrition of whole wheat and barley, and from youth to old age, builds and rebuilds body and brain in beautiful harmony with Nature's perfect plan. “There's a Reason” for Grape-Nuts comicbooks.com