Judge — May 19, 1917 — page 19: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a **Kelly-Springfield Tires advertisement** disguised as humor, dated May 19, 1917. The cartoon depicts an elegant older woman ("Old Lady") in a car driven by her chauffeur Edward, who encounters a blown-out tire. She complains that Edward assured her Kelly tires "wouldn't do that." Edward's response reveals the ad's pitch: the blowout wasn't caused by Kelly tires—it's a tire already in the road that caused the problem. The joke is a sales pitch: Kelly-Springfield tires are so reliable they won't blow out themselves; any blowouts you experience must be someone *else's* failed tires on the road. It's clever misdirection advertising—the scenario seems to undermine the product, but actually reinforces its reliability claim. The comic illustrates typical 1917 motoring anxieties (tire failures were common) while positioning Kelly-Springfield as the trustworthy solution.