Life — May 28, 1903 — page 7: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "At the Sign of the Bow and Arrow" This illustration depicts a bustling retail scene—likely a department store or shop—crowded with well-dressed customers and salespeople. The poem accompanying it satirizes the commercialization of shopping and consumer culture, mocking both aggressive sales tactics ("Sporty salesmen shouted 'Cash!'") and the frivolous spending habits of upper-class women ("Summer girls of sunburnt hue," "Chorus blondes and stage brunettes"). The "Bow and Arrow" shop sign appears to be a generic establishment. The satire targets the materialism of the era—bargain-hunting crowds, manipulative salesmanship, and the social performance of conspicuous consumption. The illustration and verse together critique turn-of-the-century shopping culture as shallow and economically irrational.