Judge — September 17, 1927 — page 23: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a **Jumbo automobile advertisement** disguised as humorous social commentary in *Judge* magazine's "Ladies' Home" section. The cartoon depicts a heavyset woman relaxing at home, and the ad plays on a crude visual joke: the Jumbo car is marketed as matching a woman's "mood" and physical attributes. The text suggests that just as a woman's beauty or appearance might be "uncanny," the Jumbo's generous proportions similarly suit various feminine types. The phrase "The Most Bountiful Car in America" is deliberately double-edged—"bountiful" referring both to the car's spacious design and sarcastically to the woman's size. **What it reveals**: Early 1900s advertising shamelessly used body-shaming humor to sell cars, particularly targeting women drivers. The joke relies on fat-shaming while simultaneously positioning automobiles as status symbols for the emerging female consumer market. It reflects both period misogyny and the novelty of marketing cars to women.