Life — August 5, 1920 — page 2: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This is **a Michelin tire advertisement**, not political satire. The page promotes Michelin's ring-shaped inner tubes through the company's famous mascot, Bibendum (the "Michelin Man")—the rotund, bandage-wrapped figure shown at bottom right. The ad's selling point: Michelin tubes are ring-shaped, allowing them to fit tire casings smoothly without wrinkling. Competing straight tubes, the ad claims, must wrinkle to conform to the casing's shape. The cross-section illustration demonstrates this difference visually. The mascot appears cheerful and authoritative, endorsing the product's superiority. There is no political or social satire here—this is straightforward commercial advertising leveraging brand recognition and comparative product claims typical of early 20th-century magazine marketing.