Life, 1926-02-18 · page 4 of 36
Life — February 18, 1926 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page is primarily **advertising, not satire or editorial content**. The large photograph shows a woman's distressed face, accompanying a story titled "More Trouble!" about romantic disappointment—a man transferring his attentions to her friend, which "utterly broken her spirit." The ad below uses this emotional context to sell **Listerine Tooth Paste and mouthwash**, suggesting that halitosis (bad breath) might be the hidden reason for the woman's romantic troubles. The accompanying circular "challenge" offers a large tube for 25 cents, gambling that users will become repeat customers. This is typical early-20th-century advertising: exploiting social anxieties (especially women's romantic insecurities) to market personal hygiene products. The connection between bad breath and failed relationships is entirely manufactured marketing psychology.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A Challenge We'll make a little wager with you that if you try one tube of Listerine Tooth Paste, you'll come back for more. LARGE TUBE 25 CENTS More Trouble! T always seemed to hap- pen. Every timeshe met a man she really liked: For a while the man would be an eager suitor; then mysteriously he would cease his attentions and turn to some other girl. This time he had trans- ferred his affections to one of her own best girl friends, who also began to“‘cut” her. What could be the trouble? The thing had ab- solutely broken her spirit. ** * You, yourself, rarely know when you have halitosis (un- pleasant breath). That's the insidious thing about it. And even your closest friends won't tell you. Sometimes, of course, hali- tosis comes from some deep- seated organic disorder that requires professional advice. But usually—and fortunately —halitosis is only a local con- dition that yields to the regu- lar use of Listerine as a mouth wash and gargle. It puts you on the safe and polite side. Moreover, in using Listerine to combat halitosis, you are quite sure to avoid sore throat and those more serious illnesses that start with throat in- fections, Listerine halts food fer- mentation in the mouth and leaves the breath sweet, fresh and clean. Not by substitu- ting some other odor, but by really removing the old one, The _ Listerin odor itself quickly disappears. This safe and long-trusted antiseptic has dozens of dif- ferent uses; note the little circular that comes with every bottle. Your druggist sells Listerine in the _ origin. brown package only—never in bulk. There are four sizes: 14 ounce, 7 ounce, 3 ounce and 1% ounce. Buy the large size for economy Lambert Pharmacal _ Ce pany, Saint Louis, U. S. comicbooksicom