May Robson, from the Actors and Actresses series (N45, Type 6) for Virginia Brights Cigarettes 1885 - 1891

This is a photograph of May Robson, the actress, made by Allen & Ginter for Virginia Brights Cigarettes. It's one of a series inserted into cigarette packs, printed using industrial methods of the time. The image itself, printed on thin card stock, speaks to the era’s burgeoning consumer culture. Photography allowed for the mass reproduction of images, turning people into commodities. Here, Robson’s image becomes a collectible, a marketing tool to sell cigarettes. The card itself, though small, represents a complex web of labor, from the factory workers producing the cigarettes to the photographers, printers, and distributors involved in creating and circulating these images. These cards were immensely popular, reflecting the public's fascination with celebrities. They highlight the ways in which images were becoming integral to the branding of goods, and the weaving together of the culture of celebrity with the hard reality of industrial capitalism.