Life, 1920-07-08 · page 40 of 40
Life — July 8, 1920 — page 40: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **cigarette advertisement**, not satire or political commentary. The page features a portrait of an unnamed businessman in formal attire, presented as endorsing Fatima cigarettes. The ad's pitch targets early 20th-century business professionals, arguing that Fatima offers balanced Turkish tobacco content—enough for flavor without the "over-richness" of pure Turkish cigarettes. The unidentified man represents the target consumer: a successful, discriminating businessman who makes smart choices about tobacco proportions. The message reflects period marketing logic: positioning a blended product as the "sensible" middle ground. There's no satire here—this is straightforward product promotion typical of Life magazine's advertising revenue model, using an authoritative male figure to lend credibility to consumption choices.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ORE and more business men seem to be learning that there is a real differ- ence between the various types of ciga- rettes—that the proportion of Turkish tobacco determines not only the taste- enjoyment, but also how liberally a man may smoke throughout the day. This is, in fact, the reason why so many shrewd smokers—wishing to avoid the over- richness of straight Turkish cigarettes, yet hardly content with the taste of ordinary Turkish blends—have chosen Fatima. They find that Fatima contains “just enough Turkish” for steady, enjoyable smoking. Kg eteniigtra Tibasuad FATIMA A Sensible Cigarette comicbooksfgom