Judge — July 25, 1931 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of the Cartoon This cartoon satirizes the absurdity of "vanishing cream" — a cosmetic product popular in the early 20th century marketed as making blemishes disappear. The joke is literal: the factory's inventory literally *vanishes*. The comic depicts workers attempting to count stock at the factory, but the cream products keep disappearing before their eyes. Men with clipboards, on ladders, and crouching down frantically try to document inventory that won't stay put. Two figures converse at the bottom, likely discussing the impossibility of the task. The satire mocks both the product's exaggerated advertising claims and the absurdity of trying to maintain business operations when your merchandise vanishes. It's a visual pun on the product name, playing on consumer skepticism toward beauty product marketing.