From Rationing To Prosperity
By Willy R. Wilkerson III. Excerpt from the book 'All-American Ads of the 40s', edited by Jim Heimann
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While style and fashion were toned down during the war, the new economic prosperity that followed meant consumerism was ripe. The advertising industry was quick to capture the attention and the dollars of women. Max Factor and Revlon wasted no time in capitalizing on the glamorous movie connections to their products. Max Factor called its lipstick "Hollywood's Sensational NEW Lipstick" while Revlon said "Smart Women Everywhere Swear By Revlon". Celebrity-driven ads to sell products were nothing new. "Every girl should have a lovely Lux Complexion" featured film star Veronica Lake on the Lux Complexion ad.
In 1946, Hollywood returned to what it did best - making good movies. And there was no shortage. Men of Boys Town starring Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney and Suspicion starring Cary Grant were just two of the box office offerings of their day. But the greatest work of genius also came from the post-war era. Orson Welles made Citizen Kane and film critics have been falling all over themselves ever since.
In 1947, movies and radio were threatened by a new innovation every bit as revolutionary as sound was to silent movies in 1927. While enemy troops had invaded the shorelines of allied countries only a few years before, television now invaded the living rooms of the American public. American families forsook their dining rooms and instead huddled in front of their Motorola or Zenith with their meals on their laps watching their favorite shows. Zenith, who cornered the market on TV sets in the late 1940s smugly advertised, "What you have been waiting for..."
Despite television's invasion of the living rooms of America, Reader's Digest continued to be the leading U.S. magazine, selling 9 million copies in 1949. Life Magazine ranked second, selling 5,305,394.
The advent of canned convenience food began during the war and was brought to American homes when the war ended. Boxed cereals like Kellogg's Corn Soya asked "Has the war upset your breakfast habits?" Canned foods, now a staple of the American diet, saw their origins in Spam, the canned ham ration supplied to GIs during the war. Campbell's soup called itself "America's Favorite Soup". Dole became synonymous with pineapples and juice from Hawaii. Coca Cola, the drink of GIs during the war, was now saying, "Inviting workers everywhere to the pause that refreshes with ice-cold Coca Cola".
Alcohol and tobacco ads during the 1940s were the stuff of screen legends, of Humphrey Bogart smoking a Chesterfield and sipping Chivas Regal at Rick's place in Casablanca. It was a time when these industries were not bedeviled by politics that led to their ads either being modified or censored or banned altogether.
Page 1 2 3 4 5
Page 1 2 3 4 5
While style and fashion were toned down during the war, the new economic prosperity that followed meant consumerism was ripe. The advertising industry was quick to capture the attention and the dollars of women. Max Factor and Revlon wasted no time in capitalizing on the glamorous movie connections to their products. Max Factor called its lipstick "Hollywood's Sensational NEW Lipstick" while Revlon said "Smart Women Everywhere Swear By Revlon". Celebrity-driven ads to sell products were nothing new. "Every girl should have a lovely Lux Complexion" featured film star Veronica Lake on the Lux Complexion ad.
In 1946, Hollywood returned to what it did best - making good movies. And there was no shortage. Men of Boys Town starring Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney and Suspicion starring Cary Grant were just two of the box office offerings of their day. But the greatest work of genius also came from the post-war era. Orson Welles made Citizen Kane and film critics have been falling all over themselves ever since.
In 1947, movies and radio were threatened by a new innovation every bit as revolutionary as sound was to silent movies in 1927. While enemy troops had invaded the shorelines of allied countries only a few years before, television now invaded the living rooms of the American public. American families forsook their dining rooms and instead huddled in front of their Motorola or Zenith with their meals on their laps watching their favorite shows. Zenith, who cornered the market on TV sets in the late 1940s smugly advertised, "What you have been waiting for..."
Despite television's invasion of the living rooms of America, Reader's Digest continued to be the leading U.S. magazine, selling 9 million copies in 1949. Life Magazine ranked second, selling 5,305,394.
The advent of canned convenience food began during the war and was brought to American homes when the war ended. Boxed cereals like Kellogg's Corn Soya asked "Has the war upset your breakfast habits?" Canned foods, now a staple of the American diet, saw their origins in Spam, the canned ham ration supplied to GIs during the war. Campbell's soup called itself "America's Favorite Soup". Dole became synonymous with pineapples and juice from Hawaii. Coca Cola, the drink of GIs during the war, was now saying, "Inviting workers everywhere to the pause that refreshes with ice-cold Coca Cola".
Alcohol and tobacco ads during the 1940s were the stuff of screen legends, of Humphrey Bogart smoking a Chesterfield and sipping Chivas Regal at Rick's place in Casablanca. It was a time when these industries were not bedeviled by politics that led to their ads either being modified or censored or banned altogether.
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