The Packaged Past: Ancient and Exotic

By 1928 Palmolive had become the world’s leading brand of toilet soap. From its name to its color, the company built a brand around the soap’s exotic ingredients: palm and olive oil. Palmolive promoted its oils as the proven beauty aids of ancient civilizations packaged for the twentieth-century woman.

Cigar manufacturers in many eras have included package artwork that drew ties to a an imagined or idealized past. Classical imagery represents exoticism in both time and distance.

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