In this advertisement, a woman leans sensually against a soldier just returned from the war. The woman holds a box of Murad cigarettes in one hand, and the man’s hand in her other. In the man’s hand is the lit cigarette, and it is unclear whether the woman is pushing the cigarette away as he tempts her with it, or is drawing his hand toward her so she can take a drag herself. Dressed in pure white and blue, she resembles an innocent virgin tempted happily into vice. Many women were introduced to smoking by their husbands when the men returned from the war. The flag in the window behind the couple is the Service Flag, or the Blue Star Flag, adopted in 1917 (just one year before this advertisement was printed) as a way for mothers, in particular, to indicate a son was serving the country abroad. The mother would hang the flag in a front window of their family home as a symbol of pride, a beacon of hope and a reminder of the grave circumstances. If the son was killed in service, the blue star was replaced with a gold star. The Service Flag tradition continued with vigor in WWII. Though the tradition has lost momentum today, there are still many active Blue Star Mothers and Gold Star Mothers organizations across the nation.
Female, Male, Military, romance
