Life — December 20, 1917 — page 40: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a **cigarette advertisement**, not political satire. It appears in *Life* magazine from December 1917, likely during World War I (note the reference to mailing tins to "Training Camps"). The ad features a man in profile smoking a cigarette, promoting Chesterfield's paradoxical selling point: they "Satisfy" smokers with a noticeable taste while remaining "Mild"—positioning the product as offering both satisfaction and smoothness simultaneously. The marketing hook claims Chesterfields "get across," meaning smokers will *feel* they're smoking, distinguishing the brand from competitors. The patriotic appeal includes a special offer to mail tins to soldiers at training camps, leveraging wartime sentiment. No political figures or satire are present; this is straightforward early-20th-century cigarette marketing using a masculine, sophisticated imagery typical of that era.