Life, 1921-03-31 · page 2 of 34
Life — March 31, 1921 — page 2: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **Chesterfield Cigarettes advertisement** rather than political satire. The narrative poem describes a consumer's shopping journey: seeking a hair restorer, the character encounters a bald man selling oil stock in Liberty Bonds, then asks a clerk about cigarettes in a "fancy box." The clerk's response ("They Satisfy") leads to the advertiser's pitch. The two cartoon characters at right represent satisfied customers endorsing the product's "body" and mildness—Chesterfield's marketing claim that they "satisfy" despite being mild cigarettes. The satire is commercial, not political: it gently mocks consumer gullibility and marketing techniques of the 1920s-30s era, showing how advertising slogans ("They Satisfy") were used to sell cigarettes as sophisticated, satisfying products.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
CHARLES Dawa, 7 i LeRoy Mit BF e IT'S REALLY surprising. THE MONEY you save. BY ASKING questions. | FOUND that the maker. OF A hair restorer. WAS BALD as a coot. SO | passed that up. AND A bird who came. TO SELL oil stock, HAD HIS own cash. IN LIBERTY Bonds. SO | ducked again. AND | asked a clerk. FOR THE best cigarettes. AND HE reached around. FOR A fancy box. AND | knew I was in. FOR THE same old line. SO | asked him this. “WOULD YOU smoke one of ‘em. 1F | bought a box?” AND THEN he smiled. With acknowledgments to K. C, 8, ¢ LIKE A regular guy. AND SAID “No thanks. MLL SMOKE own.” ANDI got wi86 AND ASKED him then. WHAT BRAND he smoked. AND HE ‘showed me. AND THEN ‘he sald, “THEY SATISFY.” AND B'GOSH, he's right. SURE they satisfy — Chesterfields have body— that’s the reason. Body enough to satisfy a cigar smoker. And yet Chesterfields are mild. Impossible? That’s it exactly — Chesterfields have accomplished the impossible. They satisfy and yet they're mild. Liccett & Myers Tosacco Co. comicbooks.com