Life — May 3, 1929 — page 13: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This single-panel cartoon satirizes the publicity methods of Amalgamated Passenger Airways Inc. The top scene shows company directors presenting their airline at what appears to be a formal event or convention, with "The Spirit of A.P.A. Inc." depicted as a winged figure flying overhead. The bottom panel shows the same directors in a living room, literally demonstrating the airline's concept by levitating or flying themselves around the furniture—humorously illustrating the caption's point that the company's publicity experts "tacitly suggest that the directors help sell the idea to the public by going up themselves." The joke mocks the airline industry's marketing approach: rather than conventional advertising, the directors themselves become flying advertisements for their service.