Community Silver and the Changing American

Ad #1 - Community Silver, LIFE, Vol. 14, No. 19, May 10 1943, Inside Cover.
Ad #2 - Community Silver, LIFE, Vol. 20, No.9, March 4 1946, pp.49.


Ad #1 for Community Silver was published in Life magazine in 1943. It shows a man, standing with his assumed wife (he is not wearing a ring). He has stopped plowing his land and they are both staring out into the unforeseen land in front of them, neither of them is smiling. It is easy to interpret this halt of cultivating their land, as a symbol to Americans that they too should, for the sake of the nation at war, stop “cultivating” their own lives. The U.S. is visible in this image as the background hills, fields, and houses being shadowed by the bleak and overcast sky.
Ad #2 for Community Silver was published in Life magazine in 1946. The ad shows a close-cropped image of a man and woman who appear to have just been married. The second image implies, like many other ads of the Post-WWII years, Americans should focus their lives on themselves, especially economically. Americans were supposed to start whatever they have been putting off because of the war. So closely cropped, this image only shows the married man and the woman, no one else. Here, the focus on the individual (or the family as an individual) is blatant.
These two advertisements are for the same brand of silverware, yet they depict two very different images of how Americans should live their lives. The change in messages between these two images shows a change in what being an American meant, and what their role as a non-combative citizen was. During the War, Americans were supposed to come together with other Americans and work to better the U.S. instead of just themselves. After the War, being an American meant one was more individualistic, and lived more for themselves or their immediate families. The sacrifices you would make would be for your family, not your country. Your American duty became to help support your family, particularly through consumerism.