Life, 1925-07-02 · page 46 of 47
Life — July 2, 1925 — page 46: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **Colgate's shaving cream advertisement**, not political satire. The page uses humor to promote daily shaving by contrasting old and modern grooming standards. The two portrait photographs labeled "Cousin Anson" show the same man with and without facial hair—a before-and-after demonstrating how outdated full beards appear. The accompanying text nostalgically references old photograph albums filled with hirsute ancestors, suggesting that contemporary readers find those heavily-bearded looks ridiculous by modern standards. The advertisement's central message: clean-shaven faces are now the social and business norm, and Colgate's cream makes daily shaving easy and comfortable. The copy appeals to masculine vanity (looking "young and fit") and social conformity. The bottom tagline—"Truth in advertising implies honesty in manufacture"—was standard corporate messaging of the era, not satirical commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
DIRE: Shave every day—be comfortable COLGATES for better shaving “a J 4 Cousin Anson, free from Cousin Anson, as others \ facial encumbrances used to ree him ———___ OW dear to our hearts are the old-fashioned albums, the plush- covered albums, geen, yellow, and blue; it’s a treat to go through them and look at the whiskers that our great-uncles wore when smooth faces were few. The modern collection of snapshots may be interesting, but it affords no such merriment as we get out of the dear old album that once graced the marb‘c-topped center table. Most of the living men who used to let their features be hidden behind festoons of hair are convinced when they look at old photo- graphs of themselves that clean shaving has important advantages in addition to its effectiveness as a sanitary measure. Daily shaving promctes comfort, keeps men looking young and fit, and, when Colgate’s Rapid-Shave Cream is used for lathering, it is very easy. Colgate’s needs no mussy rubbing in with the fingers; it softens the beard instantly at the base, where the razor’s work is done, and it leaves the face soothed and velvety. A clean slave daily has become a business as well as a social requirement Let us send you a trial tube of this wonderful cream — enough for 12 ~ <é better shaves than you have ever COLGATE & CO. y . had. Just fill out and mail the Dept. 23 ; coupon, with 4 cents. 581 Fifth Avenue, New York > Please send me the trial tube of 2 , Colgate's Rapid-Shave Cream for ; 4 COLGATE & CO. better shaving. Tenclose 4c. . j Entablished 1806 . NEW YORK Name... Truth in BVeRtisin ¢ /implies honesty in manufacture comicbooks.com