From the Actresses and Celebrities series (N60, Type 2) promoting Little Beauties Cigarettes for Allen & Ginter brand tobacco products 1887

This is a photograph of Miss Le Brun, one of a series of actresses and celebrities from the late nineteenth century used to advertise Allen & Ginter brand cigarettes. In the United States during the Gilded Age, advertising was in its infancy. This small card, tucked into cigarette packs, reflects a culture increasingly fascinated with celebrity and mass marketing. The image creates meaning through its visual codes of beauty and fame. It reveals the social conditions that shaped artistic production in that era. But it also raises questions about the ethics of using public figures to promote addictive products. These cards, collected and traded like baseball cards today, played a role in normalizing smoking, especially among young people. Further research into the archives of advertising history would help us to understand the impact of these images on American society.