Judge, 1931-04-18 · page 13 of 36
Judge — April 18, 1931 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Judge Magazine Satire: "Dandy Handy Candy Bars" Ad Campaign This is **office-memo satire** mocking corporate advertising during the Great Depression. Three company executives propose summer marketing ideas for a candy bar: 1. **President Tishweiler** urges aggressive competition, praising "idea men" and aggressive advertising. 2. **Treasurer Loth** cynically targets wives: market candy bars as a cheap substitute keeping wives home instead of demanding expensive vacations—"A Good Time for a Thin Dime." 3. **Sales Manager Stong** proposes "suggestive advertising" using attractive women in bathing suits. The cartoon illustrates this last concept: a scantily-clad woman in a bathing suit climbs a telescope or surveying equipment, with the caption mocking male ogling ("fly specks"). **The satire targets**: Depression-era male anxiety about women's leisure demands, cynical marketing that exploits gender stereotypes, and advertising's increasingly manipulative use of female sexuality to sell products. The memos reveal corporate callousness: solving economic hardship not through fair wages but through manipulating family spending and female imagery.
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JUDGE DANDY HANDY CANDY BARS, Inc. Inter-Office Memo From: J. A. Tishweiler, Pres. To: Executive Board. Re: Summer Ad Ideas. today’s Rotary-Kiwanis Sing-Fest- and Monthly G wether Pow-Wow, Sam Inchley of The Acme Advertis Aweney advised me that now is the time to bury the past and plunge into the future ig advertising way. He says Starts ne'er won fat iets and pointed ont that Hahn's Honey and Almond Gc ure stepping up their advertising \ppropriation to meet conditions at the turning point. I heard confidentially that they're also adding raisins to their product. We must meet and beat all competition, altho I cannot visualize raisins in Dandy Handy Candy F However, Inchley’s out- fit is working night and day conceiving ad angles for our Sum- ier campaign. ut men, idea men and every ounce of brain- power in the 0 ganization is straining every muscle in our direc- tion, Couldn't we co-operate? Key your minds to Dandy Handy Candy Bar appeals. Ideas are the breath of business and the fruit of th ht. Let’s make this Summer a hot one for Dandy Handy Candy Bars. J. A. Tishweiler. Daxpy Hanxpy Canny Bans, Inc. Inter-Office Memo From: D. Loth, Treas. To: J. A. Tishweiler, Pres. [> looking for a Summer ad idea, my first thought was, does Summer mean to Mr. Average Dandy Handy € Bar buyer? As every marricd man knows, it means va tions for the wife and kiddies. Every Summer Mrs. Loth insists on going away somewhere. ‘This is an expensive habit, and as everyone is counting the pennies now, | think it is the point we should concentrate on in the Summer Ad Campaign, “Dandy Handy Cand Full of Restful Goodness: “he pn Sw Eat a Dandy Handy Candy Bar every day and you won't feel li y should we men suffer the expe aving our wives leave home for od time? Let’s sell them the notion of eating Dandy Handy Candy Bars: “A Good Time for a Thin Dime.” The word thin also combats the idea Dandy Handy Candy Bars are fattening. Yours for swelling Dandy Handy Candy Bar sales. D. Loth. Daxpoy Haxpy Canpy Bans, Inc, Inter-Office Memo From: Duffield Stong, Sales Mgr. To: J. A. Tishweiler, Pres. uave sounded out the ultimate consumer on our Summer sales attack and want to go on record with my findings, which are that people play games during the heated term. Therefore we can solve our problem with a recreational approach and make I Handy Candy Bar seem a ne. This sccomplished by suggestion, so, as I see it, it is up to us to have some suggestive vertising. For i : girl in a one-piece bathing suit saying, “I'm in the swim (Continued on page 23) -Aud ya shoulda heard him curse I showed 'im they was only fly specks!” comicbooks.com