Life, 1923-12-13 · page 4 of 36
Life — December 13, 1923 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **Phoenix Hosiery advertisement**, not a satirical cartoon. The ad makes a comparative claim about women's and men's hosiery durability. The copywriting employs a rhetorical tactic common to early 20th-century marketing: it frames the product claim as a gender debate ("Women vs. men!"), then argues that because women take more steps daily than men, their hosiery endures harder wear. Therefore, Phoenix Hosiery—which allegedly performs equally well in both masculine and feminine versions—must be superior to competitors. The ornate decorative border and typography reflect the period's advertising aesthetic. This represents straightforward commercial messaging rather than political satire, using gender comparison as a marketing hook to sell durability and elegance to both sexes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
} EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERESE LLL EEE EEE EEEEEK EE ECE EEE EEEEKEEEE EELEEEE RES EKKEREEEEEEEKEEEEKEEEE Sh, << Women vs. men! If the average woman takes more steps every day than the average man, the mas- culine foot walks harder. Since hosiery must now of necessity be raiment of elegance, it is equally imperative that it also possess great wearability. Sturdiness! Phoenix has become the standard hosiery of the world for men, women and children, because of the elegance it furnishes over long and strenuous miles. Its mas- culine and feminine hosiery are alike in their ability to resist wear. PHOENIX HOSIERY MILWAUKEE comicbooks.com