"What a find! Six blandes & bran' new!," from the Terrors of America set (N136) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Tobacco 1888 - 1889

Curator: Let's discuss this curious print from the Terrors of America series, created around 1888 by W. Duke Sons & Co. to promote their Honest Long Cut Tobacco. Editor: Immediately, I notice the casual attitude suggested by this character—that slightly smug, victorious grin and proud carriage. What "terrors" could this lad possibly represent, beyond boyhood antics? Curator: Indeed, the print employs colored pencil techniques, capturing a detailed rendering of the young boy’s clothing and features against a delicately ornamented frame. Editor: Speaking of boyhood antics, note how tobacco advertising exploited children's likenesses for market gain—reinforcing harmful dependencies across generations, while relying on notions of charm and innocence to normalize its brand. Curator: Certainly, the use of print served the function of advertising while adopting portraiture, resulting in the intimate details in the presentation of the boy’s clothes that reveal more than perhaps was intended. His confident presentation and neatly patterned frame direct our attention—almost distracting us from that gleeful, slightly mischievous, energy. Editor: His body becomes the literal packaging for this advertisement, reducing him to mere spectacle. While he beams about his "find"—the very product on which his image advances capitalist greed—do we, even now, consider the ethics inherent? Or has complicity become as comfortable as patterned borders? Curator: That patterned border truly enhances the symmetry. Let’s not overlook the fact that we see excellent, precise rendering which leads our eyes systematically, like that of a Dutch master, from his face, down his sleeve and through his fingers. The print employs both colour and careful form to convey not terror but consumer satisfaction. Editor: To me, it represents not a mere advertisement, but the insidious process of exploitation disguised by innocence. Reflect on that and consider how marketing’s tendrils grasp ever younger, furthering normalized systemic ills through imagery alone. Curator: Fascinating how different angles highlight the complexity of these supposedly simple images. Editor: Yes, a grim satisfaction arises from exploring them so completely, revealing a grim complexity we may have ignored upon first view.