Life — December 6, 1917 — page 12: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis: Beeman's Pepsin Chewing Gum Advertisement This page is primarily **advertising content**, not political satire. The main feature is a Beeman's chewing gum advertisement claiming the product aids digestion through added pepsin (a digestive enzyme). The creator, "Doctor E.E. Beeman," asserts that pepsin has long been used medicinally for indigestion, and he's innovatively combined it with chewing gum. The ad positions the gum as preventative medicine for digestive ailments. The side panel contains unrelated patriotic WWI poetry ("A Voice from the Trenches") and advertisements for hair products and digestive remedies—typical period marketing that exploited health anxieties. This reflects early 20th-century marketing where medicinal claims were largely unregulated, and adding pharmaceutical ingredients to consumer products was common advertising strategy.