Life, 1920-10-28 · page 6 of 46
Life — October 28, 1920 — page 6: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a cartoon or satire page** — it's a straightforward advertisement for White Trucks, a Cleveland-based manufacturer. The ad uses a persuasion strategy common in early 20th-century marketing: social proof through investment statistics. It claims that experienced truck fleet owners have invested millions in White equipment (ranging from $100,000 to over $2,000,000 per owner), implying this demonstrates the trucks' reliability and value. The argument is: knowledgeable professionals know White trucks "do the most work for the least money" and repeatedly buy them. Therefore, individual truck purchasers should follow their example. There is no political content or satire here — merely vintage industrial advertising using testimonial-style credibility appeals.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
OWNERS’ FAITH in WHITE TRUCKS a | HE following list of large investments in White fleets shows the faith large truck owners have in White equipment. 2 owners have invested over $2,000,000 4 owners have invested between 1,000,000 and $2,000,000 5 owners have invested between 500,000 and 1,000,000 22 owners have invested between 250,000 and 500,000 82 owners have invested between 100,000 and 250,000 Experienced truck users know truck value in terms of earning power, through actual performance of one truck against another. They know that White Trucks do the most work for the least money, and they back that knowledge by in- creasing their investments year after year. The purchaser of one or a few trucks can safely follow their example. THE WHITE COMPANY CLEVELAND comicbooks.comi)