Life, 1929-01-25 · page 27 of 36
Life — January 25, 1929 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not satire**—it's a straightforward cigarette advertisement disguised as health advice, featuring three actresses from the Ziegfeld theatrical production "Whoopee." The ad's core pitch: **smoke Lucky Strikes instead of eating sweets** to stay slim. It exploits 1920s anxiety about female weight and appearance by presenting cigarettes as a legitimate appetite suppressant and health product. The claims are medically fraudulent by modern standards: - "20,679 physicians" allegedly endorsed them as less irritating - Toasting supposedly makes them "healthy" - They "steady nerves" without harming "physical vigor" The tagline "Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet" became one of advertising history's most notorious examples of using social insecurity (fear of weight gain) to market an addictive, harmful product to women. This reflects early 20th-century advertising's brazen health claims before FDA regulation and the eventual surgeon general's warnings on cigarettes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
"We know our Luckies Thats how we stay slender” EVERY woman who fears overweight finds keen interest in new-day and <>mmon-sense ways to keep a slender, fash- ionable figure. Ov: rweight must be avoided. “Better to lighta Lucky whenever you crave fattening sweets.” Toasting does it. Toasting develops and improves the flavor of the world’s finest tobaccos. Lucky Strike satisfies the long- ing for things that make you fat, without interfering with a normal appetite for healthful foods. That’s why Luckies are good to smoke. Toasting makes Lucky Strike the healthy ciga- rette for you to smoke. Many men who carefully watch their health discovered this years ago. They know that Luckies steady their nerves and do not slow up their physical vigor—prominent athletes have gone on record that this is so. They know that 20,679 phy- sicians have stated that Luckies are less irritating to the throat than other cigarettes. A reasonable proportion of sugar in the diet is recommended, but the authorities are overwhelming that too many fattening sweets are harmful and that too many such are eaten by the American people. So, for moderation'’s sake we say:— “REACH FOR A LUCKY INSTEAD OF A SWEET.” ‘The Misses Catherine Moylan, Myrna Darby, Murrel Finley, now appearing in Ziegfeld’s “Whoopee” Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet. 99 No Throat Irritation- noentringien to asted No Cough. Coast to coast radio hook-up every the National Broadcasting Company’s network. The Lucky Strike Dance Orchestra lunes that made Broadway, B lway.’” ’ comicbooks.com