Life, 1912-04-11 · page 4 of 46
Life — April 11, 1912 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical advertisement critiquing rubber tire manufacturers' "non-skid" tread designs. The piece argues that manufacturers are experimenting with countless decorative tread patterns—claiming each prevents skidding—without scientific basis, merely to differentiate products and boost sales. The humor lies in the invented tire designs for specific professions: "For the Democrat," "For the Republican," "For the Artist," etc. Each tread pattern supposedly reflects that profession's values or interests—musical notes for musicians, dollar signs for capitalists. The satire suggests that these distinctions are meaningless marketing gimmicks rather than functional improvements. The core argument: manufacturers adopt wrong principles from 1906 and perpetuate them in 1912, experimenting at consumers' expense. The tread patterns offer no actual safety advantage, only novelty.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
SERIE: Latest Novelties in Rubber Tread ‘“Non-Skids Many Fancy Designs All Based on a Wrong Principle This style of rubber-tread “non-skid,” adopted a few years ago, has been practically abandoned because wrong in principle. These 1912 rubber-tread ‘‘non-skids” differ from the above in appearance only. They also are wrong in principle. The rapidly increasing variety of rubber “non-skid” designs is proof that none of them is right—that the manufacturers are experimenting at the expense of the user. A principle wrong in 1906 cannot be right in 1912 Distinctive All-Rubber Non-Skid Treads These tires would be easy to sell, though they wouldn't prevent skidding any more than those already illustrated. Think of the advertising value of a trail in the road indicating your vocation. These distinctive treads would not prevent a sale if a republican, for example, wished to sell his car to a democrat, or vice versa. Just drive a few hundred miles and the designs will disappear as all-rubber non-skid designs do. These designs are not copyrighted—all manufacturers are welcome to adopt them. FOR THE DRUGGIST FOR THE PAWNBROKER FOR THE LAWYER : FOR THE CAPITALIST ‘omicbooks.com