Life, 1923-12-06 · page 7 of 84
Life — December 6, 1923 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a Michelin tire advertisement, not political satire. The illustration shows the Michelin Man (Bibendum), the company's mascot—a rotund, bandaged figure—balancing atop a large tire while wielding a sword or pole like a circus performer. The ad's message plays on the phrase "time and experience": Michelin claims that years of testing tires under various conditions and climates prove their superiority. The circus/acrobat imagery suggests that mastering tires requires skill built through experience. The bandaged appearance of Michelin Man humorously implies the tire company has endured countless "trials" to perfect their product. The ad concludes by promoting Michelin Cords and Inner Tubes as products justified by this accumulated expertise.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
and ave you ever stopped to think how important a part time plays in im- proving your tire mile- age? It takes, literally, years to test a new tire idea under all climatic conditions, at all seasons, on all kinds of roads and in the service of all kinds of drivers. Hence the importance of the fact that Michelin is the oldest automobile tire maker. Something is built into every Michelin that cannot be built into any other make, namely the lessons learned through extra years of ex- perience. That is one reason why it pays to use Michelin Cords and Inner Tubes. MICHELIN TIRE COMPANY, Milltown, N. J. a ® EXPERIENCE comicbooks.com