Category: Uncategorized

In the January 2nd, 1950 edition of Life lies an advertisement by Camel cigarettes. This full-page advertisement follows a whiskey ad and serves as the final page of the magazine, allowing the company to leave a lasting impression on readers. With the help of a large header, Camel’s goal is easy to identify: promotion of…

Looking for a winter getaway? A trip to the West Indies with Pan American World Airways may be what you are looking for. This 1948 edition of Life magazine advertises Pan American World Airways, the first airline to fly worldwide and the pioneer for numerous innovations of the modern airline industry. Known as the “world’s…

The above piece of chosen visual media is an advertisement for “wrinkle-shed” clothing by Dan River. The advertisement appeared in Life Magazine in 1959 (V. 46). As shown, It depicts four separate images of white, heterosexual, and seemingly married couples wearing the bright-colored clothing being advertised. In this way, the advertisement makes a statement beyond…

No matter your location, experience “pleasure everywhere” with Kent cigarettes! That is the promise made to viewers of this advertisement in the January 31, 1964 issue of Life Magazine. This advertisement features a happy, white couple overlooking the beautiful mountains of Austria, each enjoying a cigarette. They appear to be the epitome of happiness and…

It is not that hard to imagine a photographer at a murder scene taking pictures for a report, especially in modern times when news cycles are exceptionally fast. This process is exactly what Cornell Capa—a photographer for the photography cooperative Magnum—did in 1953 at the scene of the murder of Francis “Red” Kelly, a new…

This visual piece is a mid-20th-century advertisement for the Englander Mattress, published in the summer of 1945 (June 2nd) by Time. It features a newlywed couple—the bride in a traditional white gown and veil, the groom in a navy uniform—poised at the top of a church’s steps, radiating post-wedding bliss. This advertisement targets American consumers…

By Katie Hansen Aging is not a new fear. In fact, people have been attempting to understand and, more specifically, prevent the process of aging for a long time. The Scientist, a news journal for the “life scientist,” dedicated an entire spread to the current research being done at the time on aging. The journal…

Too fat? Joan Caulfield has news for you! At least that is the promise made by the half-page advertisement for Ayds Reducing Plan and Mineral Candy taken out in the October 5, 1953 issue of Life Magazine. Before its fall from grace in the 1980s–consumers could not quite stomach candy that shared a name with…

Seagram’s is a Canadian whisky company founded by the oligarchic Bronfman family. Sam Bronfman (Mr. Sam) grew the company into one of the most powerful distilleries in Canada with two early business advantages (Faith, 1) (Proudly). First, Mr. Sam sold his whisky in bottles. Today this seems like a rather mundane detail; however, at the…

Magnum Photos is a company founded in 1947 by co-founders Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger and David “Chim” Seymour. The founding photographers were aiming to take photographs that would capture various conditions around the world after the second world war. As more photographers began to join Magnum Photos, in 1972 a photojournalist by the…