Life, 1922-07-13 · page 27 of 36
Life — July 13, 1922 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **Kelly-Springfield Cords tire advertisement** disguised as editorial content in Life magazine. The cartoon depicts a woman nervously asking her chauffeur (William) to drive carefully on a wet avenue. His confident response—that Kelly-Springfield Cords prevent skidding—serves as the advertisement's hook. **The satire/appeal**: The piece uses class signaling (a woman with a chauffeur) to suggest that even wealthy, cautious people trust Kelly tires for safety. The "sense of security" is positioned as a bonus benefit beyond mileage. **For modern readers**: This represents early 20th-century automobile advertising that blended editorial-style content with advertising to feel more credible. The emphasis on skidding danger reflects genuine concerns about early automotive safety on wet roads. The pricing language ("costs no more to buy a Kelly") suggests competitive tire market positioning, likely during post-WWI economic adjustment. This is essentially native advertising before that term existed.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Hey “Oh, dear, I’m so afraid of the Avenue when it’s wet. Drive carefully, won’t you, William?” “Yes, ma’am, but there’s not much danger of skidding with these Kelly-Spring field Cords on.” HE purchaser of a set of Kelly Cords pays only for mileage; the sense of security that comes with them is thrown in gratis. We know of no other tires that will give such consistently long mileage and at the same time so high a degree of protection against skidding. Kellys have always been an economy; at today’s prices they are more economical than ever. be- cause now it costs no more to buy a Kelly. comicbooks.com