Judge, 1928-03-24 · page 2 of 36
Judge — March 24, 1928 — page 2: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Ethyl Gasoline Advertisement This is primarily a **commercial advertisement**, not satire. It promotes Ethyl Gasoline, a fuel additive containing **tetraethyl lead** developed by General Motors Research. The ad claims Ethyl improves performance across all driving conditions through higher engine compression. It emphasizes the product's widespread adoption (over 1,000,000 users) and minimal cost premium. **Historical context**: This advertisement is now infamous because tetraethyl lead was later proven highly toxic, causing severe environmental and public health damage before being banned decades later. Contemporary readers saw only promised performance benefits; they couldn't foresee the poisoning of generations through atmospheric lead contamination. The ad's casual mention of "tetraethyl lead" reveals how openly dangerous compounds were marketed before modern toxicology awareness.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Whatever your driving conditions — climate —weather — temperature —altitude your car will run best on ETHYL GASOLINE There is nothing mysterious about Ethyl Gasoline. It 1s selected motor gasoline containing “ETHYL” fluid, the compound developed by Gen- eral Motors Research to take advantage of the higher compression created by carbon deposits or by advanced engine design. So effective is “ETHYL” fluid—a patented compound containing tetraethyl lead — that it takes less than a teaspoonful to a gallon of gaso- line to give your car a performance you have never known before. You get more power on hills and heavy roads, quicker acceleration, reduced gear-shifting and a cooler engine —and as for high compression engines, Ethyl Gasoline made them possible! More than 1,000,000 car owners are now riding with Ethyl. And its price is merely the price of good gasoline plus the few extra pennies that the “ETHYL” ingredient costs. ETHYL GASOLINE CORPORATION - 25 Broadway, New York City ETHYL GASOLINE IS THE YARDSTICK BY WHICH OTHER GASOLINES ARE MEASURED. comicbooks.com