Life — February 5, 1920 — page 6: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This page is **primarily an advertisement**, not satire or editorial content. It promotes Blue Label Foods—specifically Blue Label Tomato Ketchup by Curtice Brothers Co. of Rochester, New York. The ad features two illustrated scenes of elegant social gatherings (dinner parties or receptions) flanking a bottle of ketchup and a plate of food. The text emphasizes the product's quality: tomatoes are "sound ripe," "delicately spiced," and "carefully selected and packed." The advertisement suggests that Blue Label Foods enables hosts to serve impressive meals effortlessly—"a complete, perfect line—from soup to sweet"—positioning the product as essential for maintaining social status and entertaining. The formal dinner scenes reinforce this aspirational marketing approach targeting middle and upper-class consumers.