Get Your Wigwag On!

Invention Company isn't a really original name for a company, but one of their offerings got its own comic ad around 1943., Just as everyone was enthralled with WWII, what better time is there to get people into the obscure pastime of signal flags? The ad itself is for a pair of telescopes labeled Wonderscope, but the headline is you get a pair of wigwags and an Authentic Code Instruction. The whole set would be around $75 in today's economy, but even with a five-day free trial it's still pretty steep. Now, these items might be helpful if you're regularly involved in planes or boats, but the ad takes a crooked approach by stating the Wonderscope could be used for using it as secret code with your neighborhood buddies. Were things that boring back then that people had to waste hard cash so a pair of dorks could gab about each other in their own hidden little dialogue? They could've just shared notes in class instead of plunking out a huge wad for their juvenile suburban antics.

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