Life — September 19, 1930 — page 3: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This is primarily a **commercial advertisement** for Ingram's Shaving Cream, not political satire. The central cartoon depicts a comical collision between a tube of Ingram's shaving cream and a traditional jar of the product, illustrated as vehicles crashing on a road with spectators watching. The advertisement promotes a product competition: Ingram's new **tube packaging versus their established jar format**. Two company managers (C.M. Crawford and J.G. Stenhouse) debate the merits—Crawford champions the convenient new tube, while Stenhouse defends the classic jar's reliability. The humor derives from treating packaging formats as rival competitors. The contest awards $5,000 in prizes for readers' predictions about which packaging will prove more successful. This reflects early 20th-century consumer marketing strategies emphasizing product innovation.