Life — September 2, 1920 — page 10: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This is an **advertisement**, not a political cartoon. The page promotes the Mercer automobile, manufactured by Mercer Motors Company in New York City (operating under Hare's Motors, Inc.). The ad features a photograph of a Mercer car driving through a natural rock archway or tunnel, framed by trees and landscape. The text uses poetic language to link the car's elegant design to nature's beauty ("adds a note of harmony to the charm of the September landscape"). The marketing emphasizes that while Mercer cars are "rugged, dependable, comfortable and fast," their true distinction lies in superior engineering standards and design quality set by Hare's Motors—appealing to consumers who valued craftsmanship alongside performance. This represents early-20th-century automotive advertising's strategy of associating products with natural beauty and aspirational lifestyle.