Life — May 17, 1917 — page 8: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Tuxedo Tobacco Advertisement This is primarily a **tobacco advertisement**, not political satire. The page shows a humorous ad for "Tuxedo" pipe and cigarette tobacco, using the slogan "Your Nose Knows." The cartoons at top depict a child ("Billy") visiting a barber—the joke being that you can tell he's been there by the "feel" and "looks," but the ad claims fragrance is the true indicator of quality. The ad then pivots to tobacco: just as you recognize a barber visit, "your nose knows" good tobacco by its pure fragrance. The barber-chair illustrations on the left reinforce this through visual repetition. The ad emphasizes Tuxedo's "pure fragrance" from Kentucky Burley leaves as a quality guarantee, encouraging readers to test it themselves. This reflects early 20th-century advertising that directly targeted consumers' sensory experience and trust.