In the Khedivial ad pictured below left, the Nile River and the massive pyramids at Gizeh form a majestic backdrop for an Arab and his cigarette carrying camel. The romantic Murad ad, below right, features a handsome couple, complete with peacock, enjoying the pleasures of an exotic looking garden. Were these Middle Eastern stereotypes exploitation or innocent romanticization? Known as Orientalism, the answer is probably a little of both. Many of the cigarette ads produced between 1880 and 1920 picture Muslim women reclining on pillows while wearing the wispy costumes associated with the harem. To the mostly rural American male 100 years ago, these ads were mildly erotic. Islamic men were usually portrayed wearing the colorful robes associated with nomadic desert warriors, often with Egyptian architecture in the background. The commercial artists who painted these advertising images were influenced by the many newspaper articles about the exciting Egyptian tome discoveries, by the journals of European travelers writing about their time spent in Turkish baths, plus the colonization of French Algiers and the English occupation of India and Egypt.