Life — October 5, 1928 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a **cigarette advertisement** featuring golfer Johnny Farrell, identified as the "National Open Golf Champion, 1928." The ad uses celebrity endorsement—a standard 1920s marketing technique—to promote Lucky Strike cigarettes. The key claims are that Lucky Strikes offer "the finest tobacco," are "long even cut," contain "no dust," and crucially: **"No Throat Irritation—No Cough."** This last promise is notable because by the late 1920s, health concerns about smoking were already emerging, despite being largely unproven medically at the time. The "It's Toasted" slogan refers to the company's claimed processing method to remove impurities and improve flavor. This advertisement exemplifies how tobacco companies addressed (and dismissed) early health anxieties through celebrity endorsement and marketing claims.