Life, 1922-09-07 · page 33 of 44
Life — September 7, 1922 — page 33: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily an **advertisement** for U.S. Royal Cord Tires, not a political cartoon. The "satire" is self-directed advertising strategy. The piece references P.T. **Barnum's famous quote** that "the public likes to be fooled"—a real showman's observation known to early 20th-century readers. The ad argues that Barnum was *wrong* about tire buyers specifically. During a period of confusing tire marketing (with competing "discounts" and "bargains"), consumers actually chose **quality over deception**—specifically U.S. Royal Cord tires. The ad claims that car-owners, dealers, and manufacturers all rejected gimmicks and "stuck to" honest quality. The joke: Barnum's cynical philosophy failed here because practical Americans recognize genuine value. The tire itself (shown prominently) becomes proof that consumers rejected marketing manipulation. It's aspirational advertising disguised as social commentary—flattering readers as too sensible to fool.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ROR twenty years or so HW] we've all been hearing Barnum’s classic re- BS} mark — “The public likes to be fooled.” The public has always enjoyed this biting comment because it came from America’s best loved showman, But probably many of us had our fingers crossed even as we nodded approval. * * * The past two years in the tire business has been a pretty good test of Barnum’s famous saying. If the public liked to be fooled here was its heart’s content. “Big Discounts” to the right. “Special Sales” to the left. “Bargains” on every corner, Certainly no man who kept his eyes and ears open missed seeing the attempt to fool the public by drawing its atten- tion away from the essentials of real value. Why did car-owners refuse to lower their quality standards—why did more people than ever go to quality tires? Especially U. S. Royal Cords, which they used more and more to measure the market when they wanted a test of value, In one way of speaking, Royal Cord - leadership grew out of the confusing conditions put upon the tire buyer. Current prices on United States Passenger Car Tires and Tubes are not subject to Fed- eral Excise Tax, the tax having been included. United States Tires The car-owner, being a practical per- son, as a rule, did the practical thing. He bought U. S. Royal Cord quality —and stuck to it. The legitimate dealer lined up with the U. S. Royal Cord policy—and stuck to it. The makers of Royal Cord Tires said “Go to a legitimate dealer” —and stuck to it. * * * Perhaps Barnum intended his re- mark about the public to be taken with a grain of salt. Note that he always gave his customers a whale of a money’s worth. US. Rayal Cord Tires United States @ Rubber Company three The Oldest and Largest Two hundred and ‘actories —~ Rubber Organization in the World thirty-five Branches comicbooks.com