Life — February 12, 1920 — page 37: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is **an advertisement, not a political cartoon**. The page features a formal dinner scene photograph promoting True Irish Linen tablecloths and linens by the Irish Linen Society of Belfast. The "satire" or humor here is subtle and implicit in the *advertising approach* rather than explicit mockery: the ad appeals to class consciousness and snobbery, emphasizing that genuine Irish linen signals refined taste, luxury, and sophistication to guests and observers. Women are specifically targeted as judges of quality. The photograph depicts an elegant formal dinner with well-dressed guests, a chandelier, and draped tables—staging the aspirational lifestyle associated with owning "True Irish Linen." The implicit message: purchasing this product marks one's refined social status. For modern readers, this reflects pre-WWII attitudes about class, gender (women as arbiters of domestic taste), and marketing through appeals to exclusivity and refinement.