Life, 1925-08-20 · page 35 of 36
Life — August 20, 1925 — page 35: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical advertisement from *Life* magazine celebrating advertising and consumer culture. The piece personifies "Andy Consumer"—an everyman figure shown reading ads while surrounded by toys and products. The satire targets advertisers' self-perception. Rather than promoting products directly, Andy argues that ads actually appeal to consumers' financial interests and desire for value. He praises advertisers for competing to offer "the most for a dollar" and for treating consumer spending as worthy of serious consideration. The humor lies in the inversion: Andy claims advertisers don't bore him because they're essentially flattering him by treating his money as important. The footer suggests advertisers "bet" their budgets on product quality. This appears to be part of *Life*'s "Better Merchandise" campaign promoting honest advertising. The piece satirizes both consumer vanity and advertising claims, while ultimately endorsing competitive consumer capitalism as mutually beneficial.
📄 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 YOU HAVE TRIED HARD, BUT YOU CAN’T BORE ME. OU advertisers—I hate to admit it, but what you say interests me MUCH. You may think you're talking about your product in your ads but you're not. You are talking about my money. (Try and get some of it!) Next to my income, I like my expenses best. Well, you birds sit up nights trying to think up fine ways to give me more for what I spend. You vie with one another to offer me the ThE pouches FA au my Walla ~ most for a dollar. I like tosee you vie. Vie on! I like to read your bloomin’ ads. I like to window-shop in news- papers and magazines. I like to compare your beans and belts and broughams. My dollars come hard. I like to see you fellows trying hard to get them. You make my money seem almost important. You give my coin the consideration it deserves. No, you boys don’t bore me for a minute. cH Consumer THE NATIONAL ADVERTISER BETS HIS ADVERTISING MONEY THAT HIS PRODUCT IS RIGHT comicbooks.com