Life, 1920-11-04 · page 24 of 60
Life — November 4, 1920 — page 24: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The large illustration satirizes consumerism and deceptive manufacturing practices. A giant, angelic-looking factory worker is surrounded by crowds of consumers, suggesting how companies manipulate the public. The accompanying text describes deliberately frustrating product design—sealed cans with fake "press here" labels, impossible-to-open sardine tins with keys engineered to snap, and misleading instructions. The satire mocks manufacturers who intentionally make products difficult to open, forcing consumers to struggle, cut themselves, or break tools. The joke targets the gap between advertising's promises ("To Open—Press Here") and reality: products designed to *frustrate* rather than serve users. This reflects early 20th-century consumer skepticism about industrial manufacturing and corporate indifference to customer experience. The "popular film star" reference suggests this fantasy reflects widespread public cynicism about big business practices.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Cus Good Luck, Girl Scouts! HE Girl Scout Campaign Committee I ° : : to be congratulated in getting Mary Robert Rinehart to lead their nation-wide drive. In making up your list of things to be thankful for, don’t forget the Girl Scouts. There are now 86,176 Girl Scouts, nearly twice as many as there were a year ago, and the only reason there aren't more is that their organization lacks funds. From November 6 to 15 the public is go- ing to have an opportunity to remedy that. It is going to be given the oppor- tunity of becoming a Girl Scout daddy. Any man is eligible to become a Girl Scout daddy so long as he believes—as of course we all do—that every girl in the United States ought to have a chance to be a Girl Scout if she wants to. All he has to do after that is to back his opinion FANTASY OF A POPULAR FILM STAR with cash. Fifteen dollars makes him a daddy, a sustaining member. Lire beli in Girl Scouts. They know a lot of things that their mothers and their schools don’t seem quite able to teach them. They know how to keep rosy and grow straight and strong; how to wear low-heeled, sensible shoes and simple clothes with growing room in them; how to set the table and wash and rinse the dishes; how to make buttonholes (by hand), and how to bathe and dress the baby. The things that the modern girl loathes and will have none of, the Girl Scout enjoys and calls “ fun.” The budget of the Girl Scouts is modest enough. They need $1,033,400. With nearly 90,000 members and 7,200 volunteer cap- tains and lieutenants, it is not a large sum. Here's hoping they get it, for they deserve it. Every Girl Scout ought to have a daddy along with her Thanksgiving turkey. “To Open—Press Here” S we stepped out of the elevator at the sixth floor of the factory, our guide “This is the sealing room, where the cans and tins are sealed. Our sealing made up of specially trained experts, who are taught in our school the art of welding tin covers on so that they can never be removed, short of breaking the container. “The process is this: placed on the can and the whole thing immersed in boiling lead, so that the two are practically made one. Then a sign is stuck on the top, reading: ‘To open this can, press here,’ or ‘Pry open along this line.’ Of course there really is no line at all, and no spot to press. get the purchaser to tire himself out and force is trade The cover is The idea is to cut his fingers trying to force a screw- driver into a place which isn’t there. Sometimes we even provide a key, around which the cover is supposed to be rolled. This is a specialty in our sardine Phe difficulty in making these is to it so that at a certain point in the rolling, just as the cover is about one- third off, it will automatically snap the key in two. At any rate, we always try to fix it so that the key, whether it breaks or not, will not roll back the cover any more than halfway. “This m: on shoe- tins, arran n over here is putting covers cking and silver-polish tins, He is especially expert in making it look as if there were a crack where the edge of the cover should be, when actually the cover and tin are all in one piece. Then he paints on the top: ‘To open—turn cover to right.’ When he not too hurried, he is able to make little sharp “Is THAT YOU, LIZZIE? I SAW YE WITH JIMMY SMITH YESTERDAY. JEST FER THAT, HE KIN BUY YE THAT CANDY I PROMISED YE To-DAY.” . XUM comicbooks.com'