Life — August 7, 1931 — page 8: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# August Days - Life Magazine Satire This page presents a visual essay titled "If trade marks grew old," illustrated by Donald Ross. The cartoon imagines famous commercial mascots and brand characters aging into elderly versions of themselves. The panels show recognizable figures—including what appears to be a plump woman holding bread loaves (likely a baking brand mascot), a rooster (possibly Cockerel brand imagery), and other vintage advertising characters depicted as wizened seniors. The final panel features a prominent elderly gnome or goblin character, smoking a pipe. The accompanying poem by Margaret E. Sangster humorously contrasts August heat and summer fatigue with Christmas deadlines, capturing the satirical tension between seasonal reality and commercial publishing demands. The satire comments on how eternal, ageless brand mascots would look if they actually aged like ordinary people.