Life, 1917-03-22 · page 31 of 38
Life — March 22, 1917 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a cartoon or satire**—it's a straightforward automobile advertisement from *Life* magazine (page 495), likely from 1917 based on the text reference to "1917 market." The ad promotes the Studebaker Six Touring Car ($1,250) by claiming it received endorsements from prominent Americans across all social classes: government officials, bankers, judges, society leaders, and industrialists. The marketing strategy emphasizes four virtues—**Value, Quality, Style, and Service**—positioning Studebaker as the car chosen by the nation's most discriminating buyers. The appeal is fundamentally about **aspirational status**: by purchasing a Studebaker, ordinary buyers could align themselves with the taste and judgment of elites. The company offers a "Blue Book of Prominent Buyers" as proof of this widespread high-society approval. This reflects early 20th-century advertising that used social proof and class associations rather than technical specifications to sell products.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Six Touring Car $1250 The Greatest Endorsement of a Great Car ECEMBER 4th, the day after the New Series 18 Studebaker was announced, a nation-wide Prominent Buyers’ Day Campaign was organized, and during this Promi- nent Buyers’ Day Campaign one or more of the most prominent citizens of every com- munity throughout the entire United States bought a Studebaker car. Government Officials, Bankers, Jurists, Captains of Industry, leaders in every field of human endeavor, have selected Studebaker from the entire field of cars on the 1917 market as the one that best expresses their idea of what an automobile should be. This instantaneous, nation-wide endorsement of Studebaker by the most fastidious, most discriminating motor purchasers was based on the following Studebaker characteristics: Men who have built their success on VALUE their ability to make every dollar they spend bring its fullest return —shrewd, calculating Bankers and Corporation Executives recognized at once that Studebaker offered them all the essentials usually found only in cars costing many hundreds of dollars more. QUALITY Government Officials, Mayors of Cities, the dignity of whose office is an object of constant consideration, bought Stude- bakers because they found the necessary richness of finish combined with a perfection of design that reduces inspection, adjustment and repair expense almost to the vanishing point. Leaders of Society, notables of the stage, STYLE bought Studebakersfor their grace,their intment, for the hundred and one t 80 often escape the average eye, the importance of which Studebaker’s 65 years of experi- ence in fine coach building recognizes as essential to real smartness. SERVICE Menand women of the types men- tioned, prominent people generally, have the leisure that permits of extended use of their cars. Hence, the assurance of permanent service sat- isfaction guaranteed them by the vast Studebaker organization with its 21 factory branches and 6500 loyal dealers, played no small part in the volume of sales made to this most exacting class. Such are the people who own Studebakers, such are their reasons for buying—the list of their names is most convincin, evidence of their faith in Studebaker. Let us send it to you. Ask for the Studebaker Blue Book of Prominent Buyers— write today. Established 1852 South Bend, Ind. Detroit, Mich. Walkerville, Ont. Address all correspondence to Detroit comicbooks.com