Published in 1965, Simone de Beauvoir's Les Belles Images is marked like Les Choses and Les Géants by a certain mentality that arose as the post-war French economic ‘miracle’ transformed social structures, customer expectations and individual perceptions. The main character, Laurence, works in an advertising agency, and, among her family and acquaintances, in a social milieu populated by industrialists, architects, broadcasters and lawyers, there prevails an optimistic view about the prospects of humanity at large in a world where science and technology are working to enhance the quality of life. The books that Laurence's husband Jean-Charles reads all have the same message: ‘tout va beaucoup mieux qu'avant, tout ira mieux plus tard’; before long all will be living in ‘la civilisation de l'abondance et des loisirs’ (72). Thus, the ‘beautiful images’ of the novel's title, while they are the stuff of Laurence's professional activity as she works to make merchandise attractive to potential customers, also signify the vision of a privileged elite for whom all is well with the world and the future promises to be even brighter.

Laurence works in the same sector as Jérôme and Sylvie in Les Choses, but in a milieu that has matured somewhat beyond Perec's portrayal of it. Laurence is further up the agency hierarchy than Perec's characters, being a copy writer, and her colleagues include Lucien, ‘le meilleur motivationniste de la maison’ (27), an expert in the motivational research whose impact on French marketing circles we have noted previously. Laurence draws on the fruits of Lucien's ‘depth analyses’ when planning her campaigns and composing her slogans. However, she is not overly impressed by the associations that motivational studies suggest that buyers unconsciously wish to have linked to a product:

While struck therefore by the banality of the material on which the advertiser has to work – the questionnaires harvest only the lowest common denominator of responses – Laurence recognises nonetheless that she is dealing with elements of fundamental significance.