Life — December 4, 1919 — page 3: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This is not a political cartoon or satire—it's a **Whitman's chocolate advertisement** from Life magazine's "Christmas Life" section. The image shows a well-dressed woman in 1920s attire examining the contents of a "Sampler" box of Whitman's candies. The advertisement emphasizes that consumers can select Christmas sweets "just as if you selected" them personally from ten different Whitman's packages. The pitch appeals to gift-givers by suggesting the Sampler offers curated variety—candies previously chosen by "millions of Americans" since 1842. The ad notes that drug stores (the primary retail outlet of that era) sell these products. This is straightforward commercial messaging rather than editorial content, using aspirational imagery of refined femininity to market premium chocolates as an ideal Christmas gift.