Life — April 18, 1918 — page 5: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is primarily a **product advertisement**, not a political cartoon. It advertises Nujol, a laxative made by Standard Oil Company (New Jersey), positioned as a constipation remedy. The advertisement features a businessman reading documents at his desk—a figure meant to represent the target demographic of successful, busy professionals. The ad's humor relies on the era's common belief that "most human illness is directly or indirectly caused by constipation," positioning Nujol as a cure-all solution. The tagline "Regular as Clockwork" plays on the product name and promises reliable, predictable digestive function. The claim "absolutely harmless" reflects early 20th-century advertising's need to assure consumers about proprietary medicines, many of which contained questionable ingredients. This represents dated medical thinking that modern readers would recognize as pseudoscience.