Life, 1915-02-04 · page 44 of 44
Life — February 4, 1915 — page 44: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **automobile advertisement** from Life magazine (February 4, 1915), not political satire. The Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company uses decorative Art Nouveau framing to market their luxury vehicle. The ad's argument: motor cars have become essential to modern life—necessary for business, sport, and society, not merely luxuries. The illustrations show affluent people in formal dress using the vehicle for social occasions. The "satire" is subtle self-awareness: Pierce-Arrow acknowledges their car is "rarefied, exotic, unusual" yet claims it's fundamentally about **utility**. This is marketing rhetoric—positioning an expensive luxury item as a practical necessity for the active, well-to-do lifestyle. The decorative borders and refined illustrations reinforce the car's positioning as sophisticated and status-conferring for wealthy buyers circa 1915.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LEE E: PIERCE- ARROW After all, the final status of a motor car is utility—a rarefied, exotic, un- usual utility, if you will—but still utility. The motor car has stepped into its place in the complex scheme of life, widening the scope of that scheme and at the same time be- coming necessary to its successful working. The wider life, with its business, sport, society, depends on transportation from place to place. THE PIERCE-ARROW. Motor Car Co. BUFFALO NEW YORK