This 1899 advertisement for Pears soap is an unsigned woodcut, which was photographically reproduced and printed, dozens at a time, on large sheets of paper, before being pasted onto card, cut down to individual images and distributed. Despite the mass production of these advertising cards, few examples survive. The same advertising image and caption was used in newspapers and in magazines.
And, in case it is not already obvious, the witch is writing “the Name of PEARS on the Sky” with her index finder. This is at a time when women were getting executed for the crime of being a witch. And if your neighbour or friend had an argument and accused you of being a witched you were taken away and killed.
This is a good example of Pears taking what is scaring the public and using it to their advantage. The witch trials killed across the Europe and North America was 35,000.
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