Life — December 20, 1917 — page 39: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a cigarette advertisement disguised as holiday-themed content. The image shows Santa Claus holding prominent packages of "Murrad" Turkish cigarettes, with a smaller package of "Sana-Gyr" brand also visible. The ad's rhetorical question—"Without them, what would Christmas be?"—sarcastically suggests cigarettes are essential to holiday celebration. The caption "Christmas packing for Christmas presents now on sale" uses double meaning: both literal gift-wrapping and the product packaging itself. This reflects early 20th-century tobacco marketing practices, when cigarettes were routinely advertised in mainstream publications without health warnings. The use of Santa Claus to promote the product to a general audience—including implicit appeal to families—would be considered highly unethical today. The ad exploits holiday sentiment to normalize cigarette consumption as a normal, desirable gift.