Cashmere Bouquet Soap Advertisement 1945

Haddon Hubbard Sundblom created this advertisement for Cashmere Bouquet Soap showing a couple embraced amongst flowers. Here, the imagery is potent: flowers, like those surrounding Venus in Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, are emblems of love, fertility, and beauty. Notice the soldier: his gaze and protective posture resonate with classical depictions of Mars, the god of war, softened by the promise of love. The intermingling of Mars and Venus—strength tempered by beauty—creates a powerful emotional pull. Such compositions tap into a collective memory: the timeless dance between love and war, beauty and strength, influencing our subconscious. Over time, we see how love and war recur as an inescapable cycle, with roots in ancient mythologies, resurfacing and evolving in new forms.