Life, 1911-04-06 · page 54 of 76
Life — April 6, 1911 — page 54: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page announces results of a satirical advertising competition Life magazine ran from October 1910 to April 1911. Auto manufacturers who advertised in Life competed for a solid gold cup—the winner determined by whoever placed the most advertising lines in the magazine. **The Winners:** - Columbia Motor Car Co. won the "Solid Gold Cup" (first place) - King Motor Car Co. won the "Booby Prize" (a bronze Diana statue—humorously, last place) **The Satire:** Life is gently mocking automotive advertisers' desperation to gain visibility through paid advertising. The contest itself became a commentary on commercial excess: manufacturers competed furiously, some "dropped out from pure exhaustion," and ties required random lot-drawing to decide winners. The tone is tongue-in-cheek celebration ("Bravo! Vive la Gasoline!"), but the underlying joke is that this entire competition measured success purely by advertising volume—making visible the sometimes absurd nature of corporate promotion.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Winners! in LIFES GREAT AUTO RACE Winner of the Solid Gold Cup, Columbia Motor Car Co. Winner of the Booby Prize, - King Motor Car Co. N September, 1910, the world was startled by the announcement that the greatest race in the history of Auto- mobiling would begin on Oc- tober I. This race was thrown open, with rare generosity, to all of the Automobile Advertisers in LIFE, the winner to receive a solid gold cup, a picture of which is presented on this page. The Automobile having the greatest number of advertising lines in LIFE between October I, 1910, and April 1, 1911, was to be declared the winner When the race was about half over, and the most intense excitement prevailed all over the country—several contest- ants having dropped out from pure exhaustion—it became ap- DIANA—This statue, by the eck- parent that in addition to the _ brated French artist, A. Gaudez. ws winner something would have to _ presented to the winner of the Booty be done for the courageous auto Prize in LIFE'S Great Auto, gh urag It is ot bronze, 44 inches high, I8 that would be eligible for the inches wide and 12 inches at base. Booby Prize. At the finish the Columbia Motor Car Company was tied for first place with the Baker Electric Company and the King Motor Car Company was ticd for the Booby Prize with the Kelsey Motorette. Owing to the fact that two leaders, as well as the two tail- enders, were tied, it became necessary to decide the matter by lot, in ac cordance with our announcement in LIFE'S issue of February 9: “In case two or more cars are tied at the finish, the award will be made by drawing lots, under charge of judges selected by the contestants.’ This was accordingly done on the afternoon of March 21st (on which day all the forms for the advertising up to Apdl {st were closed) and the prizes awarded to the cars nam above. ‘ Nothing remains but to congratulate the winners and This solid gcld cup was presented to the winner of ‘ e Ki sympathize with the losers. LIFE’S Great Auto Race. It de of twert ny e 5 " " .! carat gold ‘and stands 8 inches in height. - Bravo! Vive la Gasoline! Prosit! and Hip, Hip, Hooray! comicbooks.com