Life — December 6, 1917 — page 19: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a **pharmaceutical advertisement**, not political satire or a cartoon. The page advertises **Nujol**, a laxative product by Standard Oil Company (Bayonne, New Jersey), positioned as a Christmas gift recommendation. The image shows a mother holding a healthy, happy infant. The accompanying text argues that a mother's best gift is a child's health, which depends on proper digestion. It claims constipation in nursing mothers impairs babies' nutrition, and recommends Nujol as a safe treatment that won't upset digestive processes. This reflects early-20th-century patent medicine marketing: normalizing medicinal products for everyday use and targeting parents' anxieties about child health. Modern readers would find the casual recommendation to medicate infants striking and the implied connection between a laxative and Christmas gift-giving incongruous by today's standards.