Life, 1928-09-21 · page 36 of 36
Life — September 21, 1928 — page 36: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a cigarette advertisement, not political satire. It features actress **Betty Compson**, a prominent silent-film star of the 1920s, endorsing Lucky Strike cigarettes. The ad uses a common marketing strategy of that era: celebrity endorsement with a testimonial claiming health benefits. Compson claims cigarettes relieve stress during filming and cause "no throat irritation"—a selling point emphasizing the product's supposed mildness. The slogan "It's toasted"—referring to Lucky Strike's roasting process—was a major marketing claim, implying superior quality and reduced irritation. By modern standards, this advertisement is remarkable for openly promoting cigarettes' purported therapeutic effects and featuring a prominent entertainer making unsubstantiated health claims—practices now illegal in most countries.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Wag poe i 3 f BETTY COMPSON Noted Motion Picture Star, writes: “The strain of constant posing before a camera is sometimes | great. A few puffs from a good cigarette is the quickest |~ relief. I always have Luckies on the set. They soothe with- out the slightest throat irri- tation.” comicbooks.com