Life — October 4, 1917 — page 31: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is **a full-page advertisement**, not satire or editorial content. It advertises Duratex, an upholstery material for automobile interiors, made by The Duratex Company of Newark, New Jersey. The image shows a well-dressed businessman examining an empty wallet, which creates an unintentional ironic juxtaposition with the ad's claims about durability and expense. The text boasts that Duratex is so durable it "will make more than one trip to the paint shop before...ordinary service begins to have any effect," and claims it's "the finest and most expensive upholstery material made." For modern readers: this appears to be vintage automotive advertising emphasizing product quality through claims of superior durability—a common marketing tactic. The businessman's empty wallet may have been intended to suggest the material's premium price point, though the effect reads somewhat comically today.