Life, 1929-05-24 · page 10 of 36
Life — May 24, 1929 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes aggressive advertising and consumer culture through a fake product called "Septoblah toothpaste." The humor works by showing an increasingly absurd sales pitch: a customer asks for toothpaste, but the salesman keeps adding ridiculous bonus items (shaving soap, bath salts, corn plasters, talc powder, etc.) — all supposedly included for just one tube. The satire mocks both deceptive marketing tactics of the era that bundled unwanted items with purchases, and consumer gullibility. The customer's final desperate plea — wanting *just* toothpaste — underscores how corporations exploited "special offers" to sell surplus inventory. The byline attribution to "Robert Lord" suggests this is humorous fiction rather than actual advertising.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
f . en “I'll hop on in the next block, Life’s Little Ironies “IT want a tube of Septoblah tooth- paste.” “Yes, sir, and what else, sir? Shav- ing soap, razor blades, hair tonic, bath salts, thermos bottle, shaving lotion, dental floss, nail polish, water wings, corn—" “Nothing else. Just a tube of Sep- toblah_tooth-paste.” “—corn plasters, milk of magnesia, bath soap, electric toaster, flashlight, talcum powder, insect exterminator—” “A tube of Septoblah tooth-paste.” dear—I'm going for a hair-cut.” “Yes, sir, and what else, sir?” “Just a tube of—what are you wrap- ping there? I only want one tube.” “This is our daily Extraordinary Special Offer, sir: Three tubes of Sep- toblah tooth-paste, our Jumbo Delight Self Ventilating Coffee Percolator and a jar of orange marmalade—all for cighty-nine cents.” “But I don’t want all that furniture. I want one tube of Septoblah tooth- paste—just one tube.” “Certainly, sir and what else, sir?” —Robert Lord. Jumping at Conclusions Note—When reading a story tha breaks over to another page, include the “continued” line with the lag line and see what you get! Their words were pregnant with mayhem, but their natural antipathy toward each other continued on page 183. —Saturday Evening Post, I simply cannot stand for the son of lie continued on page 102. —Saturday Evening Post, The new warden was continued on page 138. Saturday Evening Post, She wore a frock of some material which appeared black except where continued on page 42. —Colliers, You have two days to be continued next week. —Colliers, And there was a girl though her teeth continued on next page. —Liberty, Miss Cissy was half way across the pavement. She was continued on nest page. —Liberty. Jump at one yourself! Life will pay five dollars for each one printed. Send them to the Conclusion Editor, Life, 598 Madison Ave., New York. Conclusions must be clipped from newspaper or magazine. comicbooks.com