Life, 1926-06-10 · page 43 of 44
Life — June 10, 1926 — page 43: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is primarily a **Michelin tire company advertisement**, not political satire. The page presents what appears to be a consumer survey claiming 84% of 982 tire users prefer Michelin tires. The small cartoon at top shows the **Michelin Man** (Bibendum), the company's mascot—a rotund figure made of tire rings, smiling and sitting. This cheerful character was Michelin's iconic brand image. The "remarkable study" describes a supposedly objective investigation: researchers obtained license plates from state authorities, then had an independent organization survey those motorists about tire performance. The accompanying table displays the voting results by tire type (A through H, plus Miscellaneous). **The appeal to modern readers:** This represents early 20th-century **advertising as pseudo-scientific marketing**—the company presents survey data as objective fact to suggest consumer preference validates their product. Today, we'd recognize this as marketing spin; the methodology (who conducted it? sample bias? leading questions?) raises obvious questions about credibility that weren't as commonly scrutinized then.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘The way they voted A remarkable study of the experience of motorists with various tires— We have just received a sworn statement of the 8 4% results of one of the most important investiga- (v) tions ever made among tire users. Representa- of 982 tire users say aves of Gurkrescerch department: noted che ¢ ° icense numbers of 2200 cars, each equippe Michelins are best partly with Michelins and partly with other -—s tires. We obtained the names of the owners of these cars from the State authorities. And then we gave the names to an outside organi- zation to investigate. This organization wrote to each motorist and asked him just one question, namely: “Do you find Michelin Tires give better or worse service than the other tires you are using?” The replies are shown at the left. They ex- plain the great swing that is on toward Michelins. They account for the fact that Michelin has been growing so much faster than the tire industry as a whole, and that over 25,000 tire builders are now kept busy making Michelin Tires. If you are not as yet using Michelins you owe it to yourself to give them a trial, MICHELIN TIRE CO. Milltown, N. J. MICHELIN Ballouns, over-size cords and ring-shaped tubes Number | Number | Sa O82 ® Percent | 100 comicbooks.com