Paige ads

Paige's Graham Brothers message ad in The Saturday Evening Post, July 16, 1927. (source: Bill Roberts)

1927 Paige-Jewett models ad in Ladies Home Journal, January, 1927. (source: Bill Roberts)

Paige Eight-cylinder Models ad in Ladies Home Journal, May, 1927. (source: Bill Roberts)

1926 Paige 5-passenger Sedan ad in The Saturday Evening Post, July 3, 1926. (source: Bill Roberts)

1925 Jewett brochure cover.

1924 Paige Open Touring Sedan ad.

1923 Jewett Special Touring ad in The American Magazine. (source: Bill Roberts)

1924 Jewett models ad in The Saturday Evening Post Magazine, September 29, 1923. (source: Bill Roberts)

1922 Jewett Six Sedan brochure cover.

1921 Paige 6-66 models ad in The Saturday Evening Post Magazine, February 5, 1921. (source: Bill Roberts)

1920 Paige Touring ad in Vogue Magazine, June 1920. (source: Bill Roberts)

1917 Paige Six-51 Coupé ad in The Saturday Evening Post, November 25, 1916, page 68. (source: Bill Roberts)

Paige-Detroit announced its new six-cylinder Paige autos in the January 2, 1915, issue of the Saturday Evening Post magazine. In that same issue the Cadillac Motor Car Co. placed the adjacent ad with the title "The Penalty of Leadership".

In September of 1914, after previously standing behind its four-cylinder engine and stating that it had no intention of marketing a six-cylinder car, Cadillac made the stunning announcement of its eight-cylinder, "V-type" engine. After the passage of several months Cadillac, in the person of Theodore McManus, who wrote Cadillac's advertising, presumably felt an explanation was in order.

Ninety years later "The Penalty of Leadership" remains famous. Compared to ads from Paige-Detroit and other auto makers, it is plain, but this was typical of McManus's work for Cadillac during this period. His ads were packed with text and only occasionally even showed a car. This one's provocative title, however, is as stiking today as it must have been then. The ad makes no extravagant product claims but instead warns the potential Cadillac customer that he must be willing to endure the envy of others for being in the forefront. And, yes, we know Cadillac makes motor cars, but nowhere in it is the reader told what exactly Cadillac is selling, other than status.
Whatever impact "The Penalty of Leadership" had on the public, it certainly made an impression on the advertising industry! Nothing quite like it had been seen before.

It defined the Cadillac and made it stand out from other cars. Perhaps the best compliment to Cadillac, the self-proclaimed "Standard of the World", is that it is a style of ad that has been imitated many times since the original was published so long ago.

Four years later Cadillac repeated the ad in a different format in the January 11, 1919, issue of the Saturday Evening Post magazine. (source: Bill Roberts)

1915 Paige "Six-46" ad in The Saturday Evening Post, January 2, 1915. (source: Bill Roberts)

1914 Paige Glenwood ad with new styling. Motor Age Magazine. (source: Bill Roberts)

1914 Models Paige ad with old styling. Saturday Evening Post, October 18, 1913, page 80. (source: Bill Roberts)