Life, 1927-09-08 · page 36 of 36
Life — September 8, 1927 — page 36: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a 1927 **Camel cigarette advertisement**, not political satire. The page features a dramatic illustration of mountaineers at high altitude beneath a giant Camel cigarette pack floating in the sky. The imagery uses the mountaineering metaphor literally: climbers reaching "the heights of contentment" through smoking Camels. This was typical 1920s advertising rhetoric—cigarettes were marketed as markers of modern sophistication and achievement. The text emphasizes Camel's supposedly superior quality, blending, and market dominance. The phrase "Have a Camel!" became the brand's famous slogan. **Why modern readers miss context**: Early-20th-century cigarette ads aggressively marketed smoking as healthful and aspirational, before tobacco's serious health risks were widely acknowledged or regulated. The mountaineering imagery suggests conquest, achievement, and elevated status—all deployed to sell an addictive product now understood as harmful.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
On the heights of contentment... © 1927 MODERN smokers have in Camel such tobaccos and blending as were never of- fered in cigarettes before, regardless of price. Camels may be had everywhere— because they please the taste of smokers everywhere. Money cannot buy choicer tobaccos than you get in this famous ciga- rette, and the blend is so mellow and smooth that there is never a tired taste, no matter how many you may choose to light. The producers of Camel, the country’s largest tobacco organization, concentrate R: Js REYNOLDS TOBACCO COMPANY, all their purchasing and manufacturing resources in this one brand of cigarettes. Into it goes their undivided pride and skill to produce such a smoke as the world has never known before. The result of Camel’s quality is its lead- ership among cigarettes. Modern smokers, won by its choice tobaccos, by its ever- dependable taste and fragrance, have awarded it first place. You're invited to modern smoking enjoyment. “Have a Camel!” WINSTON - SALEM, N. C. comicbooks.com