Miss Troja, from the Actresses series (N245) issued by Kinney Brothers to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes 1890

Miss Troja was made by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company, as a mass produced promotional card. The image is a photograph, printed onto cardstock, and the material here really is the message. These cards were distributed with Sweet Caporal Cigarettes, and depict actresses, athletes, and other celebrities. The intention? To cultivate brand loyalty through association with glamorous figures. Think of it as an early form of influencer marketing, yoking celebrity to consumption. The card is small, cheap, and ephemeral. But this also made it accessible, a proto-collectible for the working class. It is easy to forget that photographic images were not always so ubiquitous, so something like this would have been a widely distributed image for admiration. So next time you light up, consider the complex interplay of image, industry, and desire. It really puts into perspective how much work goes into even the smallest of objects.