Life, 1918-06-13 · page 36 of 36
Life — June 13, 1918 — page 36: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **Kodak advertisement**, not satire or political content. Published June 13, 1918 (during World War I), it uses an emotionally resonant wartime scene to market photography products. The image shows a soldier in uniform saying goodbye to his family—a woman (likely his wife), a man in military dress, and a young child. The advertisement's message: families should photograph soldiers "the day of his going" to preserve accurate historical records with dated negatives. The "point" is marketing, not commentary. By framing photography as a patriotic duty to document the war's "home story," Kodak positioned its autographic film feature (which printed dates directly on negatives) as essential for preserving authentic family wartime memories. This conflates commercial product benefits with emotional wartime separation—a common advertising strategy of the era. For modern readers: this represents how corporations leveraged WWI anxiety and separation to promote consumer goods while appearing to serve a higher purpose.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Day of H1s Going Ina million homes, pictures are keeping the story of the war as it touched those homes. John in his first khaki as he proudly marched away, and John, tanned and hardened, as he looked when home on leave. More than ever the Kodak Album is keeping the home story. Today that story means history, and more than ever it is important that it be authentic history—that every negative bear a date. Memory plays strange tricks and one of its favorite vagaries is to fail in the all important matter of dates. But with a Kodak there’s no uncertainty. ‘he date—and title, too, if you wish—is written on the autographic film at the time the exposure is made. And it is there permanently. It makes the Kodak story authentic and doubly interesting. It is all very simple, is the work of an instant and there’s no extra charge for autographic film. Let the Kodak keep the dates. Catalogue free at your dealer's or by mail. EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY, Rocuester, N. Y., The Kodak City