New-York tribune. [volume], January 14, 1916, Page 5, Image 5

About New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924

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Who makes the MOST Motor-Car Tires?
Let us have TRUTH?
?without
"Advertising License"
H
KREIN wo speak as a Tire Advertiser, -interested in
conserving Public Confidence in the Tire Industry.
We believe in Advertising, as an economical factor in
? Marketing of Tires to Consumers.
We believe, too. that the value of each line of .advertising Space,
paid for, depends not onlv upon the Message which fills that Space, but,
"m'THITLNKSSandGood-Faith within
that Messairu
tltimately, upon thedegreeolTRU
:n
We believe that a whole Industry may be raised up. or lowered
down, in Public ?Confidence by the general average of Truthfulness ami
Sincerity in the Advertising used by that Industry.
We believe that a chronic atmosphere of Half-truth, too dexter
.anipulation of facts for Expediency.?and a continuous stretching
of the Truth in an effort to "Beat the Devil around the Hush."?might
cost all Advertisers, in a given Industry, half the possibilities of their
Appropriation.
We believe that many Advertisers realize tiiis fact, as we do. but
hesitate to express it, lest such expression be deemed "Unethical."
T,
^HE "Ethics of Advertising, " so vaguely defined that each
interprets them for himself, seem generally cursed with the
same Insincerity and Expediency as that "Advertising
License" which is the excuse for Insincerity and Truth-stretching in
Advertising itself.
Under these Ethic? it is, for instance, considered bad form to, in
any way. directly or indirectly, re? to Competitors, no matter how
much they may dexterously transgress the truth, regarding a ?Market
which is the common property of all who sell the same product.
But. per contra, these Ethics evidently admit of any Advertiser
datTeting for his Product, as exclusive features, such features as are
001 imon to all. or to others, who make the same grade of Product
??The Theory of this kind of Advertising being that he who
boldly claims that feature, through the widest publicity, is inferred by
the Public to be the only Manufacturer who HAS that feature in his
Product?
?In other words, to DECEIVE THE PUBLIC into thinking that
his is the only Product, on the Market, possessing that feature.
A'
PPARENTLY this is considered "Ethical" in Advertising,
although it is deliberately intended to DECEIVE the.
a. ?. Reader and, by false pretences, take away from other
Manufacturers of similar product (possessing the same feature) part of
the Market which, on the merits of their goods, rightfully belongs to
them.
Apparentlv too, it is considered "unethical" for the "otfur"
Manufacturers to even PROTEST against this in their own Advertising,
or to show up in print, over their own names, the deception practiced
against their own Market, by the untruthful claims of "Ethical" Com?
petitors. . . ...
The onlv course left open to the injured Manufacturer (li he
wishes to be considered "Ethical") is to either sit still and let his
1nith-stretching Competitor thus steal his market or?
?Through the same hind of "Ethical" Advertising, claim all the
things his Competitor claimed, and somewhat "outstretch" him in
the claiming of them.
Is this good for the ultimate interest of Advertising, or Tire
Selling? _. , ...
Is it good for the Publisher (who is the Manufacturer of Adver
Space), i?r for the Advertising Agency (who is the Dealer in it)?
" Is it good for the Advertiser who, in the end, must "pay the
Piper" for all the Stretching of Advertising (through discounted
credence)? See column to right.
We would rather be "RIGHT" than Victorious.
I*--, I? sis -"!. ISlt" i**-.-1 Out _h_ tras fifsl published! me 'tateJ. ?n
Ibis l-i'.l. tint -.l.-f-y ?a the -Wlnt. Ini-ic'lifiit-.'* fur While ^re*l Tires ?*
JVJ'V',1',.r.?,i of sea rod failli beMad that ?? - *. - '\f:ir'l't
?\.?.?l offices" of our P ..-.*" Basis! B-T other lire UaOtX, BjlM
fficult?/ in ? ring all at I - I of Ik? ? "Wiite Iugre.Jre.-its to cover
. . .,?., ., -ridd, \ ?? tisacd Tire Coi era ka nmfk I r? sn ORDER
?o- 2 000 rOVS fl.000,000 pounds) <f _IN< 0? """V . ... .
,or ihJ Tire i" ?? V. va O? A_UtB- to
hjm ou' band a of - ?? to mA^nrnttatt
Ihe trtrnttt ( " ? ' ,;" ' ' * *"!"" , ??,,.?
f, ,, item ? ?i ? ' '~"Jjr VO?<:'.a
Curio? P ? ? ' r ? ? " ? ' ' ?'? .?**?* ?-? bt -"a<1*
, , ct our Parclasins
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I ill I. F. COODRIi H I 0
January 14, l'Jl?.
The Challenge
TO any Rubber, or Tire, Mfg. Concern, which claims production and
sale of as many Auto and Truck Tires combined (by any or all of its
United States factories) as were produced, and sold, by the Akron, O., factory of the
B. F. Goodrich Co., during the latest fiscal year of each, we extend this Challenge.
We will throw open our Books, and Records of Tire Manufacture and Sale,
to a fair and impartial A udit, supervised by a Committee of three to be mutually
agreed upon, provided the competing Tire Concern, or Concerns, will do the same.
We will abide by the result of that Audit, and agree that all Rubber or
Tire Concerns who are parties thereto, be free to publish the certified findings
of that Audit, as to the comparative volume of each Company's combined Auto
and Truck Tire Production and Sale.
w
E confine the Audit to the Production and Sale of Auto and Truck
Tires combined to those made in the American (U. S. A.) Factories
of each Concern,?thus excluding our own Foreign Factory and the Foreign
Factories of all Competitors.
We do this because, Volume of these Foreign factories cannot materially
help in lowering Cost of Production and Selling of Tires, as made by the Ameri?
can Factories of each,?and because some American Rubber Concerns have no
Foreign Factories.
We claim, and know, that the Akron, 0., Factory of the B. F. Goodrich Co.
makes and sells more Auto and Truck Tires combined, than any other Rubber
Factory in America, (U. S. A.), or any Rubber Company which operates five or
more Tire and Rubber Factories in the United States.
We extend this open Challenge to ALL Doubters,?and ALL Tire
Advertisers, who should now either justify their Claims for largest Volume by
accepting this fair Challenge, or cease making such misleading Claims.
January 1st, 1916.
THE B. F. GOODRICH CO.
Who made the first White Tread Tire?
Who made the first Black Tread Tire?
Who made the first Cord Tire for Autos?
WK are prompted to write the matter in first column, at
the beginning of 1916, because we think it a wholesome
subject for the Tire Industry to consider (and maybe for
Publishers?.
Not in a "Holier than Thou'' attitude, nor yet in a plea for Good
Principle alone, though that alone should justify it.
WewriU it believing that many other worthy Advertisers think
it. and would gladly co-operate with it. if someone set ?the pace, as a
sound Business Policy?tor multiplying Results from Advertising for
all Tire Advertisers.
We write it, too. because we, more than othe>* Tire Mfg. Con?
cerns, have suffered damage from competitive Advertising which
claimed, or implied claim to, exeiusivi Features in Product, Equipment,
or Method, which Features had long been common with US, as the
Daddy of all Tire-building Concerns.
When a Rubber Concern makes, for instance '_.hiiimh>0 Tires in
a year and then Advertises to ?have a ./?'?>-, far greater output than any
other Tire Maker in America, it is mighty trying for another Rubber
Concern which maltes more than ?950.000 Tires in the same period of
time, to be "Ethical." to sit still, and let the inferences, that go with
the Competitor's false claims, carry.
It is true that the Public cares little Who makes, or sell?, the
MOST Tires, -WHO made the/irrt Pneumatic Tire, first White Rubber
Tire, the first Black Tread Tire, or the first genuine Cord Tire.
The Public cares chiefly for who DELIVERS THE BEST VALUE
in Tires to Consumers. We realize this, and SO concentrate upon it.
But since best value to Consumer- is dependent not only upon the
Intention, and (lood-Faith, of each Manufacturer, but also upon his
Experience, Equipment, and VOLUME of production, misleading
Claims, bv ?Competitors, are a damage to that Manufacturer who
actually DOES make and sell the MOST Tires, of a given quality, at
the lowest priese, or DID initiate the true pace-making Tire Features.
We know that no Rubber Concern makes, in these United States
of .?\merica, so many Motor Car Tires as does the B. P. Goodrich Co.
WHEN', therefore, on this page, we seem to transgress the
SO-called "Ethics" of Advertising by publishing a
"Challenge" to all Competitors, upon VOLUME, it is
not because v. e like to t?o this sort of thing.
It is because we know of no otht r way to effectively serve notice
that we will no longt r stand for unfounded Advertised Claims by Com?
petitors, when these claims reflect unfairly (even if "ethically") upon
the Market rights of our Product
We were the first Concern in America to make White Rubber
Treads on Tire-. When we now discard them we here serve notice
that it i.: through no shortage of the "White" ingredients, caused by
War, or other conditions alleged to have made a scarcity.
We abandoned the White Treuil Rubber (which we ourselves
introduced before 1906) in favor of the Black-Tread "Barefoot"
Rubber, which we atone introduced TWO YEARS AGO, on our famous
SilvertOWn Cord Tire-*.
We abandoned White ?Rubber in the Treads of our FABRIC Tires
for 1!'16, and replaced it with our Black ".Barefoot" Rubber, only ajler
two years of such rigid TESTO for ENDURANCE and Power-Saving,
on our "SilvertOWn Cord Tires," as clearly proved the great superior?
ity, of our black "Barefoot" Rubber, for Road Work and Mileage.
One reason why we are ABLE to sell MORE Motor Car Tires
than any other Rubber Concern in America, is because we consider it
good business policy to give to Consumers the MAXIMUM of Tire
Value, that the largest Rubber Factory in America, with the longest
Tire experience, CAN give, while carrying only a fair profit to our
Dealers and our Stockholders.
The Consunu r demand which results from this Policy is the only
Excuse which the B. F. Goodrich Co. offers for actually making "far
more more Motor-Car Tires" in America alone, than any other Rubber
Company makes in these United Suites of America.
-Which fact the Challenge herewith is intended to PROVE.
TtHE B. I. GOODRICH CO.,
Akron, Ohio.
GOODRICH
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