Figure 1.--This 1917 Lux ad shows one of the comfortable short pants suits that younger boys wore in the 1910s.

A simple uncolored line drawing Lux ad appeared in a 1917 advertisement. It showed a toddler boy in a kind of casual short pants play outfit that had become so popular in the 1910s.

Ad Copy

The ad copy, in part, reads, "Use Lux for little sister's and the baby's fine wite dresses. Soap rubbed directly on those delicate garments is like to tear and corsen the fabrics ..." Lux was a soap.

Product

One rarely sees a Lux add today. Lux soap in the 1920s, however, was heavily advertised. After World War I in the 1920s even color advertisements appeared in magazines. They were still unusual and speak of an expensive advertising campaign. Interestingly the same Lux soap was used for dishes, laundry, babies' milk bottles, linoleum, paint, porcelin, rugs, and shampoo. I find it interesting thatthe same product was used for rugs and shampoo. It should be remberedm however, that as late as the 1900 there was no laundry soap to help housewives do the family laundry which would required an entire day of work. Affluent familes had domestic staff. Mothers in less affluent familes would need help from their daughters wjo might even have to stay home from school.

Ad Analysis

One interesting aspect of this drawing is the casual and comfortable clothes that boys were wearing by the 1910s. HBC believes that while often idealized, ads often provide very helpful views of popular fashion. It would hardly due, for example, for Lux to be associated with old-fashioned garments.

Clothing

The only boy's garment shown in this ad is the comfortable-looking shorts set. This was rather anew fashion, boys in the 1900s would not have worn such a garment.

Created: May 6, 2001
Last updated: May 6, 2001