Life, 1929-04-12 · page 31 of 44
Life — April 12, 1929 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a cartoon or satire**—it's a straightforward advertisement for the Hol-Hi golf ball by Wilson-Western Sporting Goods Co., featuring company president L.B. Icely. The ad uses an **analogy to make a business argument**: it compares tire industry history to golf ball marketing strategy. The point is that tire companies initially made limited mileage guarantees, which unfairly penalized customers on poor roads. Once roads improved, manufacturers switched to broader guarantees based on customer satisfaction rather than arbitrary specifications. Wilson-Western claims to apply this "sound policy" to golf balls: the Hol-Hi combines distance and durability without limiting its guarantee to a specific number of holes played. Instead, it guarantees overall satisfaction. The headline's framing—crediting tires for golf ball excellence—is playful business rhetoric, not political satire. The ad emphasizes value: improvements made while price dropped from $1.00 to 75¢ through quantity production. This reflects early 20th-century consumer capitalism emphasizing reliability and fair dealing as competitive advantages.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
L.B. ICELY, President ‘Wilson-Western Sporting Goods Co, Wuart tHe Wortp:s Greatest Goitr Bart Owes To THE Tine INDUSTRY + vy ~ - Wras today’s fine automobile roads were still a dream of the future ... tires were far less perfect than now. Yet the important tire companies fell into the competitive sales policy of making definite mileage guarantees. + 6 ¢ ¢ © ¢ ¢ @ Impressive, they sounded at first. But the man who lived near good roads exceeded the guarantee no matter what tires he used. And the man on bad roads usually fell far short—and he felt cheated. ¢« 6© 3 ¢ © @ It was proven an unsound and limited policy at best. When roads and tire construction both improved the manufac- turers issued broader guarantees for better tires instead of trying to guarantee the roads! This policy based upon fair dealing was not limited to a number of miles but to the satisfaction of the user. ¢ 6 ¢ © © © @ In offering the American public the amazing new Hol-Hi Golf Ball, Wilson-Western is adopting this sound policy. In the Hol-Hi ball are combined, at last, the tremendous distance of the high-compression ball (never possible to guarantee before)—and the tough cover heretofore valu- able mainly as a background for guaranteeing a specified number of holes per ball. It is offered to the public on a basis of superior value, without limiting this value to play GOLF EQUIPMENT over a specified number of holes. ¢ ¢ 6 6 « The Hol-Hi swept into nation-wide popularity last year at $1.00. Improvements have been madcin this year’s product, manufacturing costs slightly increased—and yet thedemand for this sensational ball is now so great that, by quantit production, we have been able to reduce the price to 75c. HOLHI OUR GUARANTEE This Hol-Hi Ball is guaranteed to give absolute satisfaction matter how many holes you choose Its Ife tn the hands of the original pr sated for durability, playability and uniformity. It will pot duck or wabble in the air. It is guaranteed to retain its shape, not to crack, and to retain its paint. If not entirely satisfactory, it will be immediately WILSON-WESTERN SPORTING GOODS CO, NEW YORK +¢ CHICAGO «+ SAN FRANCISCO comicbooks.com