Life, 1922-07-06 · page 27 of 36
Life — July 6, 1922 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily **advertising content**, not political satire or a cartoon. It's a full-page advertisement for U.S. Royal Cord Tires from the United States Rubber Company. The ad uses a rhetorical argument rather than caricature or satire. It contrasts two tire-buying philosophies: competitors who compete on price (implying cheap quality), versus U.S. Royal Cord, which assumes consumers value "quality" and "true economy" over mere low cost. The central image shows a large tire with decorative Art Deco-style background. The text appeals to readers' sense of being intelligent consumers who won't be fooled by price-based competition alone. The only topical reference is a note that tire prices (effective May 8th) exclude war-tax, suggesting this was published during or shortly after World War I, when such taxes existed. This represents straightforward early-20th-century brand messaging emphasizing product integrity and consumer intelligence—not social or political commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘Tire Competition + Good, Bad and Indifferent E average American was raised on the idea | that the more people Aas] who competed for his trade the better off he was. Like many good ideas, it has several sides. They all show themselves clearly in the tire business. * * * There are tires which prefer to com- pete largely on a price basis. Believ- ing that the public is more interested in the dollars and cents they pay than in the worth of what they get. On the other hand, U. S. Royal Cords believe differently. And car-owners who use Royal Cords have a plus feeling which they get both from actual experience, and because they realize the integrity of the manufacturer. People don’t think of Royal Cords as high-priced tires. They think of them as better tires. In the man who knows what a good, faithful product the Royal Cord is, the Prices on United States Pas- senger Car Tires and Tubes, effective May 8th, are not subject to war-tax, the war-tax having been included. U.S. Royal Cord United States @ Rubber Company mass So I yy Z, al Rubber Organization in the World tire that makes price its main argu- ment, hardly arouses more than a little curiosity. . * * * So which is better? A tire that thinks a man has no judgment beyond his pocket-book? Or atire like the U. S, Royal Cord — which creditsthe publicwith the instinct for quality, and A the sense to find out trueecon- £ omy? f Gis WY <a Tires + LLP The Oldest and. Two hundred and thirty-five Branches AWAY TSE comicbooks.com