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All-American Ads of the 40s
Colorful capitalism: From rationing to prosperity: American advertising in a time of war and reconstruction
World War II brought unprecedented pride and prosperity to the American people, and nothing better mirrors the new wave of consumerism and progress than the ads of the time.
From Western Electric communication tools (for “the modern battle”) to Matson sea liners (“Discover a new life”) to Seagram’s whiskey (for “Men Who Plan Beyond Tomorrow”) to the Hoover vacuum (“For every woman who is proud of her home”), the flood of products and services for every occasion or whim was practically endless. It’s hard to believe that the company who made your ultra-compact mobile phone was once advertising portable radios with “Motorola: More radio pleasure for less money,” or that Electrolux didn’t have any qualms about using Mandy, the portly black maid, to promote their new silent refrigerators: “Lor-dy, it sure is quiet!” You’ll also find some familiar products that, amazingly, haven’t changed at all over the years, such as juicy Dole pineapples and wholesome Campbell’s soup. Yum.
World War II brought unprecedented pride and prosperity to the American people, and nothing better mirrors the new wave of consumerism and progress than the ads of the time.
From Western Electric communication tools (for “the modern battle”) to Matson sea liners (“Discover a new life”) to Seagram’s whiskey (for “Men Who Plan Beyond Tomorrow”) to the Hoover vacuum (“For every woman who is proud of her home”), the flood of products and services for every occasion or whim was practically endless. It’s hard to believe that the company who made your ultra-compact mobile phone was once advertising portable radios with “Motorola: More radio pleasure for less money,” or that Electrolux didn’t have any qualms about using Mandy, the portly black maid, to promote their new silent refrigerators: “Lor-dy, it sure is quiet!” You’ll also find some familiar products that, amazingly, haven’t changed at all over the years, such as juicy Dole pineapples and wholesome Campbell’s soup. Yum.
704 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 2001
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172 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 1, 2015
Get ready to do some heavy lifting, this is no skimpy, slip of a book. This is one of the books that makes my family quip, "You sure do like big books," (why, yes I do, thank you). This is a book in which you can feast your eyes on ads, ads, and more ads. And yes, the irony was not lost on me that I avoid magazines, or anything printed, with too many ads, and complain about their infiltration of articles and real content, and yet, happily look through seven hundred something pages of ads from the 1940s and even read the fine text. (Maybe some day people will find our present day ads charming and insightful to the past, as well). I appreciate the very minimal commentary and interruptions from the author, because frankly, there's few things that annoy me more than having any kind of visual art come with some mammoth, two hundred page written psychoanalysis of it.
If you're interested vintage advertising of this era, this is for you, and if you know someone who lived through this decade they make love the walk down memory lane (I bought a copy for my grandparents, for instance). It's a pity the other books in this series are already out of print and expensive to get, I'd snap this one up while you can.
If you're interested vintage advertising of this era, this is for you, and if you know someone who lived through this decade they make love the walk down memory lane (I bought a copy for my grandparents, for instance). It's a pity the other books in this series are already out of print and expensive to get, I'd snap this one up while you can.
October 15, 2021
Great fun, like all the books in the series. I'm finally getting around to building a collection of these.
April 18, 2024
Now I'm curious if family who lived during the 40's saw these same ads, used any of these products, or saw some of things like the cars or planes.
August 18, 2015
Fantastic, like the whole series...
August 18, 2015
Fantastic, like the whole series...
April 10, 2017
These are strange time capsules that are fun to look through.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews