Life — April 4, 1918 — page 4: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This page is primarily a **subscription advertisement** for *Life* magazine rather than a political cartoon. The illustration at top shows seven people reading newspapers on public transit, titled "How to be Happy Though Married or Single." The ad's humor is self-promotional: the editors jokingly claim they're making an "unusual" and "immodest" request by asking readers to subscribe. They emphasize *Life* will be "so good, so fresh, so full of pictures, so delightful" this summer, and hint it "will be humorous"—while admitting "probably nobody would believe this." The tone is tongue-in-cheek flattery. Rather than offering special incentives, they simply command: "SUBSCRIBE. Obey that impulse." The joke relies on *Life's* reputation for quality satire and humor to make the bold pitch itself entertaining.