Life, 1920-06-17 · page 29 of 45
Life — June 17, 1920 — page 29: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is **advertising, not satire or political commentary**. It's a Northern Tissue bathroom paper advertisement from Life magazine. The image shows a woman in 1920s attire (headband, styled hair, dark dress) in an urgent pose, matching the copy's repeated "Call! Call!" imperative. The advertisement emphasizes product superiority through claims of durability ("last longer"), hygiene (made "sanitarily" in Green Bay, Wisconsin), and economy. The decorative forest illustrations flanking the main image reinforce the "north woods" origin story. This reflects early 20th-century marketing strategy: establishing rural/natural manufacturing credentials to suggest purity and quality. The theatrical tone ("Call! Call!") and insistent language were typical advertising conventions of the era. No political or social satire appears present—this is straightforward commercial promotion.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
q Call! Call for Northern tis- sue, now. A refinement of old methods gives to this dainty bathroom paper an evident superiority and a remarkable economy. Insist on the right paper this time. Call! Call for Northern tissue, now. These superlative rolls —that ‘‘last longer and give greater satisfaction’’—come to you out of the north woods under the most hygienic conditions. They are sanitarily made at Green Bay, Wisconsin, by the Northern Paper Mills —also makers of fine paper towels, for shop, office and kitchen. comicbooks.com