Life — September 23, 1920 — page 40: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a commercial advertisement rather than political satire. It depicts an owl silhouetted against a full moon in a starry night sky, using dark, atmospheric imagery. The ad promotes Instant Postum, a caffeine-free coffee substitute, with the tagline: "Sleep nights / Keep awake days / drink INSTANT POSTUM / Instead of Coffee." The owl—a creature associated with nighttime activity—appears deliberately ironic. The advertisement's pitch is that by switching from coffee to Postum (which lacks caffeine), consumers can sleep better at night while remaining alert during the day. The nocturnal owl symbolizes the problem coffee causes: keeping people awake when they should be resting. This reflects early-20th-century marketing that positioned Postum as a health-conscious alternative to stimulating beverages.