Life, 1918-09-05 · page 29 of 34
Life — September 5, 1918 — page 29: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **cigarette advertisement** disguised as a news article, exploiting World War I patriotism. The page presents Fatima cigarettes as the preferred smoke of American soldiers, both at training camps and overseas. The illustration shows soldiers at attention near a flagpole during military training—a patriotic scene meant to associate Fatima with duty and army life. The "fact" section consists entirely of fabricated testimonials from various military camps (Fort Washburn, Camp Upton, etc.), each claiming Fatima is the "most popular" or "best-selling" cigarette among officers and enlisted men. These quotes are unverified marketing claims presented as documentary evidence. The tagline "A Sensible Cigarette" is ironic to modern readers, though contemporaries may have seen it as emphasizing quality/moderation. **The satire/point**: This ad cynically exploits soldiers' patriotism and military authority to sell cigarettes by falsely claiming institutional endorsement. It's propaganda marketing disguised as journalism—a technique Life magazine (itself satirical) was apparently willing to run, or was mocking.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
EE PSE ... and in the U. S. Army, here and overseas A. fact: From all accounts, the most eagerly sought-for cigarette among Ameri- can soldiers abroad is Fatima. Exact figures to prove this are not avail- able; but, in view of Fatima’s known pepularity with both officers and men still in training on this side of the water, it would seem to be correct. Below are printed a few typical reports on training camps and army posts, received from our salesmen in August: Moxnor, Old Point Comfort, Va. Fatima leads in sal West Porxt, Officers’ Club: “More Fatimas smoked than any other cigarette” Rock Istaxn Ansrxat, Rock Island, IL: “Fatima is second best seller™ Came Mrnarrr, Dumont, N.J.. Officers’ "Fatima is largest-selling cigaret Camp Zacnany Taytor, Louisville, K “Fatima is most popular high-grade brand” Caur Urrox, Yaphank, N. "atima is called here ‘the officers’ cigarette" Car Gornoy, Atlanta, Gaz tima’is one of the best‘sellers among the better brands" Canr Surnsax, Chillicothe, Ohi fatima Is second biggest-selling cigarette” Car Moncax, Mobile Bay: a is Yeading sctler in ite ” sinoke Fatimas; very popular also among the men” Forr Sttt, Oklahoma, “School of Fire": “Fatima is second in point of sales” Camp Sueminax, Montgomery, Ala.: ma oatecia all other high-class brands” sas, Medical Officers’ Training Camp: atliaa I by far ths bigges-seliing cigarette fa camp" FATIMA A Sensible Cigarette Army training makes {the mind rmy men—exactly 2