Life, 1925-11-26 · page 2 of 44
Life — November 26, 1925 — page 2: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **primarily an advertisement**, not satirical content. It's a Cadillac ad from an early 20th-century Life magazine, featuring a silhouetted figure driving a car with the headline "STANDARD OF THE WORLD." The ad uses patriotic and aspirational language, claiming the 90-degree Cadillac represents "the country's best citizenship" and reflects American pride. President Lawrence P. Fisher vouches for the car's quality and promised improvements. The satirical element—if any—is subtle: the ad equates car ownership with patriotism and human worth ("we would be a little less than human if we were not proud"), which is humorous hyperbole even by early advertising standards. The silhouetted driver appears to be a well-dressed gentleman, suggesting the car's luxury status. This reflects the era's aggressive marketing linking consumer goods to national identity.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The STANDARD -:- OF Standard We would be a little less than human if we were not proud of the status of the new 90-degree Cadillac. The country’s best citizenship frankly proclaims it the car of cars —the very best that money can buy. Putting this preference on its lowest plane, the imagination can not measure its value. As we would be a little less than human if we did not prize this pre- cious preference— So we would be a httle less than sane Uf we did not protect tt. of the World Every consideration requires that the Cadillac shall be made better and better. In principle the new 90-degree Cadillac—whose excellence the world celebrates today—is the same Cadillac as the first of its type, re- fined and beautified with infinite patience and unremitting zeal. We promise you that the Cadillac of tomorrow, or a thousand to- morrows hence, will be the same splendid car, progressively improv- ed—Cadillacin quality, in high pur- pose, in unsurpassed performance. Lawrence P. Fisher President New OO degree C A D I DIVISION OF GENERAL LLAC MOTORS e comicbooks.com