Life, 1925-04-16 · page 35 of 36
Life — April 16, 1925 — page 35: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical piece critiques advertising's persuasive power through the character "Mrs. Consumer." The cartoon shows a woman being tempted by an electric washing machine while reading a magazine—visualizing advertising's appeal. The satire works on two levels: Mrs. Consumer admits advertising manipulates her ("tempting me all the time") yet simultaneously defends it as beneficial. She recounts how bathroom and heating ads convinced her to purchase upgrades, claiming these purchases improved her life and property value. The joke is the *irony*: she recognizes advertising makes her want things she didn't originally need, yet concludes this is *good*—that advertising drives American ambition and success. Life's framing ("LIFE DONATES THIS SERIES IN BEHALF OF BETTER MERCHANDISE") itself mocks the self-serving logic: advertising claims to serve consumers while actually serving manufacturers. The piece satirizes how consumers rationalize being persuaded into purchases as personal achievement rather than manipulation.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LIFE DONATES THIS SERIES IN BEHALF OF BETTER MERCHANDISE . ON om Ae Lleciuc washing machinus GO AHEAD AND MAKE US WANT RS. CONSUMER says I'm a little lazy, anyway. Sometimes I get mighty mad at advertising—tempting me all the time. I wish it would leave me be If it weren't for advertising, | wouldn't know what I was missing. If it hadn't been for radiator ad- vertising we'd still have stoves and base burners in our house instead of steam heat. Bath room ads gave Mrs. Consumer a bee for a fancy bath room. (All foolishness!) Gosh, I had to hump myself to pay for that heating plant and bath room. Had to work hard for a spell. I was sore. Still, it’s nice not to have to stoke a lot of stoves, and a real-estate man told me I had doubled the sales value of my house with that boiler and bath. So, I'm ‘way ahead financially. I begin to see it’s advertising that makes America hum. It gives ginks like me a goal. Makes us want something. And the world is so much the better for our heaving a little harder. Looking at the ads makes me think I've GOT to succeed. Every adver- tisement is an advertisement for success. I guess one reason there's so much success in America is because there's so much advertising—of things to want—things to work for. | THE NATIONAL ADVERTISER BETS HIS eee i ADVERTISING MONEY THAT HIS PRODUCT IS RIGHT comicbooks.com