The majority of advertising revenue in the 1920s came from pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and tobacco companies.  To the left is an advertisement calendar for the BAT (British and American Tobacco) company from around the 1910s. This image draws from Chinese landscape and portrait painting traditions, as well as new ingredients from Western art.  Can you identify elements that reflect these sources?     What strikes you about the model’s face?
BAT tobacco advertisement SOURCE:  Ng Chun Bong, Cheuk Pak Tong, et al., comps., Chinese Women and Modernity: Calendar Posters of the 1910s to 1930s (Hong Kong: Joint Publishing Co., 1996), pl. 1.	SOME THOUGHTS:  Some have commented on the “masculine” facial features. During the early years of the calendar poster, models were often male opera singers in female dress. Notice the use of shading in the face, probably the influence of western realism techniques.
Compare the calendar for "Three Cats" cigarettes below (1930s) with the BAT ad above. What are some of the associations smoking might have for a female consumer?  What kind of social changes between 1915 and 1930 might be reflected in the differences between these two ads?
"Three Cats" cigarettes advertisement calendar SOURCE:  Yi Bin et. al., Lao Shanghai guanggao (Shanghai: Shanghai huabao she, 1995), p. 66.
SOME THOUGHTS:  The popularity of foreign cigarettes and cosmetics might be partly due to the associations they carried.  As in the West, smoking and wearing makeup was taken as an expression of independence in women.
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