Life, 1917-02-15 · page 33 of 42
Life — February 15, 1917 — page 33: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **product advertisement**, not a political cartoon. The page shows a woman at her toilette (grooming routine) with the headline "Do you want a clear complexion?" **Content:** The ad promotes Resinol Soap as a medical-grade cleansing product containing "Resinol medication" prescribed by physicians for skin conditions. It positions clear skin as a luxury aspiration for fashionable women and frames the soap as superior to ordinary cleaners—costing only 25 cents per cake. **Historical context a modern reader needs:** This reflects early-20th-century marketing that blurred the line between cosmetics and medicine, claiming soap could treat skin affections. The appeal to "fashion" and social status through appearance was standard in women's advertising of this era. The emphasis on "natural health and beauty" versus mere cosmetics reflects period debates about beauty standards and women's vanity. **No satire is present**—this is straightforward commercial persuasion.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
be no luxury equal to the con- sciousness that her complexion is clear, fresh, delicately radiant. To keep it so, no amount of cosmetics can equal the regular use of a soap which thoroughly cleanses, and at the same time has just the right soothing, healing action to maintain the siatural health and beauty of the skin F= a woman of fashion there can Resinol Soap does this because it is an exquisitely pure and cleansing toilet soap containing the Resinol medication which physicians have prescribed for many years in the treatment of skin affections, Resinol Soap builds good complexions without making extra demands on your already over-crowded day. and as for ex- pense—at twenty-five cents a cake, Resinol Soap doubtless costs less than the soap which you are at present using and which can do nothing but cleanse. Resinol Soap is sold by all druggists and the best dealers in toilet articles. For a trial cake sufficient for a week's use, write to Dept. 26-K, Resinol, Baltimore, Md esl nol Soap comicbooks.com