Life — September 27, 1923 — page 3: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Are You a Babbitt?" - Life Magazine Advertisement This page is primarily a **book advertisement** rather than a political cartoon. The headline sarcastically addresses people accused of being "Babbits"—a reference to Sinclair Lewis's 1922 novel *Babbitt*, which satirized conformist, intellectually narrow American businessmen. The ad uses social shame as marketing: it mocks readers who lack cultural sophistication, claiming intelligent people laugh at their ignorance. The solution? Purchase these 45 classic books (fiction, philosophy, humor, biography) for only $2.48 to escape this embarrassing status. This reflects 1920s anxieties about American cultural refinement and the emerging "self-improvement" consumer market targeting the middle class. The ad weaponizes insecurity to sell literature as social status.