Follies of the Madmen #217

image

Maybe I tend to overthink things. But I confess I am baffled by the situation depicted in this ad.

1) Assume the girl in blue is a child, not an adult. Let's call her 8-10 years old.

2) The thing in her lap could be a doll.

a) But if it is a doll, its eyes are directed at the cookie, and it's reaching for it. It is not drawn to resemble an artificial thing. It is drawn as real as the girl.

3) The thing in her lap could be another living child.

a) But the only living child bearing that proportion to a ten-year-old would be, oh, what, a six-month-old baby? And what six-month-old baby ever looked like that?

Alternate explanation.

The girl in blue is an adult woman, the creature in her lap is a midget, and the whole thing is a fetish setup.

Please provide other theories, if possible!

Original ad here.
     Posted By: Paul - Wed Mar 05, 2014
     Category: Business | Advertising | Comics | Candy | 1940s





Comments
It´s a kid with a doll, no-brainer.
Posted by F.U.D. on 03/05/14 at 10:00 AM
#1 Aliens. Who else could want To Serve Man?

#2 You need to get out of Denver and go back home.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 03/05/14 at 10:11 AM
Little girls pretend to feed their dolls ALL THE TIME.
The doll in the ad looks like it came with a bottle (hence the outstretched hands). Said bottle is missing at the moment (they do need to be cleaned and filled, even in the "pretend" world).

Many little girls have "tea parties" where all sorts of dolls and stuffed animals are propped into chairs and "fed" cookies and made to drink "tea" (which is usually just air, even water can make a mess.)
Posted by girlgeniusNYC on 03/05/14 at 10:38 AM
And we're supposed to believe that you have 1st hand knowledge of such actions?
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 03/05/14 at 11:19 AM
Wait!!!!! I got it!!!!

The girl is the daughter of Nancy Fowler Archer and the 'doll' is a captive human girl used to amuse the daughter.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 03/05/14 at 11:25 AM
I tend to lean in the direction of overthinking.

I looked up the recipe for these cookies. It could stretch your sugar ration that was in effect during the war.
Posted by KDP on 03/05/14 at 11:50 AM
"If He's in America Send a Box to the Boy in Camp." I suppose that made perfect sense 70 years ago. Probably something to do with the war effort, and the desperate need our troops had for rich, rich dextrose.
Posted by Bill the Splut on 03/05/14 at 12:42 PM
On a different note, whoever thought of cooking with a Baby Ruth bar obviously never saw one in the swimming pool - or saw Caddyshack, either.
Posted by tadchem on 03/05/14 at 02:58 PM
Back then it didn't matter what you believed it was. "PC" didn't exist.
Sad we have all gone backwards as a society instead of forward when it comes to tolerance, bigotry, religion, etc etc.
Posted by BrokeDad in Midwest US on 03/05/14 at 04:25 PM
You've got it backwards sweetie. The doll is not looking at, reaching for, the cookie. The child is holding the cookie where the doll is 'looking' and 'reaching'.
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 03/05/14 at 07:44 PM
BD - I agree and disagree. Society has become much more tolerant of immorality and is more irreligious, but the bigotry has just shifted from race to political leanings.
Posted by RobK on 03/06/14 at 01:54 PM
Paul -- I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one confused by some of the oddities in print ads like you pointed out!

To some of the commenters -- I don't get some of the weird comments about society in this comments thread... did I miss something?
Posted by Kyle Morgan on 03/06/14 at 03:37 PM
@Kyle: Welcome and the place can get a bit 'weird' around here. Join in and roll with it we're just having fun.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 03/06/14 at 10:45 PM
The cookies are SO good, they will cause inanimate objects to come to life to get some.
Posted by anomaly on 03/07/14 at 11:55 AM
Commenting is not available in this channel entry.