From Abstinence To Consumption: America in the Post-War Period

Figure 1:

The first image, derived from a January 1945 issue of Time, reveals the culture of restraint and sacrifice––as well as inconvenience––that pervaded the American culture of WWII. Here, the Pullman company is not advertising the appeal of its rail services, but rather advising vacationing American families to stay at home and avoid the exhausted resources of the private rail travel industry. Pullman discourages consumers with a dire depiction of the past winter, in which the overextended train industry failed to support the influx of traveling soldiers and vacationing Americans. The advertisement suggests that families stay at home over the holidays, making a small sacrifice to expedite the return of American soldiers and thus assist the war effort. “Pleasure travel,” Pullman asserts, “is still something to look forward to rather than enjoy right now.” The image illustrates a general culture of self-restraint that seems not only tolerated by celebrated as patriotic. The supplication “Keep on Buying War Bonds––Keep on Keeping Them!” has actually become a permanent fixture of Pullman’s logo.

Figure 2:

The long awaited “pleasure travel” alluded to in the first image seems to have come to fruition in the subsequent decade, as is evidenced by the second advertisement for British Overseas Airways Corporation printed in Time in 1955. The image reveals several distinct features of 1950s culture. It seems the burgeoning post-war American economy has come to engender a culture of unfettered consumption. Leisure travel is no longer an unattainable commodity; on the contrary, it is being thrust upon Americans with unprecedented abundance and incentive. In the ad, the young wife’s outstretched arm draws the reader’s attention to another commercial airplane taking off or landing. This implicit profusion of consumer resources, coupled with the promise of massive discounts (advertised as $1680 in “’family-fare’ savings”), suggests to the reader that commercial airlines are not only encouraging, but virtually giving away vacation travel. Furthermore, the material comfort of the family depicted in the B.O.A.C. advert is a stark contrast to the asceticism of their War-era counterparts. The boy wields a personal camera, the grandmother dons pearls; they all wear charismatic smiles. The middle class family has transcended class hierarchy to appear almost presidential.

Beyond the obvious cultural distinctions revealed in the two portrayals of Americans vacationing, the images also highlight similarities between the middle class lifestyle of Americans in 1945 and 1955. In both images, the family nucleus remains at the microcosmic center of American culture. Whether in the living room or on vacation, the image of the cohesive family relationship exudes intimacy and camaraderie. Affectionate physical contact and proximity in both depictions suggest an enduring closeness cultivated during the War, still redolent 10 years later.

Appeal of the Automobile with Relation to World and Domestic Affairs

There seemed to be some trouble with my link before; hopefully now the pictures are embedded and the link works. Sorry for the inconvenience.




These automobile advertisements both found in Time magazines, the Oldsmobile from January 1942 and the Mercury from July 1953, demonstrate the change in value and appeal of cars. The ad from WWII emphasizes technology and practicality, while the ad from 1953 emphasizes domestic life and luxury; the Oldsmobile is advanced and likened to a B-19 jet used in war, while the Mercury is portrayed as a harmonious, comfortable family car. Within the texts of both ads attention is drawn to the ease with which the cars can be driven. The Mercury associates ease with harmony and balance which speaks to Cold War hopes for peace and civil relations between the US and the Soviets, and the Oldsmobile associates ease with less energy exertion, speed, and innovation. The depictions also indicate contemporary notions of family and the role of females. In the Oldsmobile ad from WWII the man away at war, flying the B-19, is like the woman at home driving the B-44; both the plane and car are smooth rides but the choice to use a woman demonstrating the lack of clutch and shifting of gears expresses the opinion that she has it easy. The illustration used by Mercury depicts the smiling faces of mother, father, and child; they are meant to represent the perfect, happy family, they are meant to make the audience jump on the bandwagon. The fifties were an era of consumerism; Americans had money to spend, appealing to familial needs and the home was a good way to pull in the average customer. During wartime excess was dismissed, everything and anything that “Uncle Sam” needed he
got; the text in the bottom right corner of the ad expresses this practice. “Building cars in only limited quantities, and only with facilities not now needed for defense.” These ads demonstrate the difference in what society found appealing and of interest at the perspective times. It’s intriguing to see the reworking of ad concepts for the same product from year to year depending on contemporary world and domestic affairs.

The Emergence of Consumerism Reflected in Airline Advertising

American Airlines advertisment, Time, January 31, 1944, p. 13
United Airlines advertisement, The New Yorker, September 15, 1955, p. 167

The two images show the rise of air travel as a component in American life, as the emergence of the middle class, combined with the lowered cost of airfares made long-distance vacations a feasible option for many. The first ad, one for American Airlines from 1944, contains no exhortations to buy or consume, rather advertising American’s contribution to society (and by extension, the war effort). The emphasis on such aspects as “saving transportation time and countless man-hours” and “expediting our nation’s work” seems to be a way of mentioning that American is doing their part by saving time and material as all Americans should be doing during the war. By contrast, the United ad of twelve years later presents air travel as a relatively affordable component of the middle-class lifestyle. The range of the family vacation had expanded dramatically with the emergence of an abundance of well-paying middle-class jobs that enabled families to either drive (with their new cars) all over the country, and to fly all over the world. Far-away Hawaii, at this point still a territory, is now a part of the mainstream American vacation scene. And while advertised as affordable, the advertisement is filled with language and imagery that connotes luxury and abundance, from the fruit that the model is holding, to in-air service that includes a “club-like…cabin,” “pre-dinner cocktails” and “superb full-course meals.” Where studious saving had been encouraged, now it was the full-fledged embrace of consumerism that was being pushed by the airlines. The high average standard of living at the time is reflected in the portrayal of easy access to items and services most often associated with the rich.

Postwar American Mutual Aide to Civil Rights Era Social Conflicts

"Your Neighbors Make News..." LIFE, May 24, 1948, pp. 121

"Our Way of Living Together in America is a Strong but Delicate Fabric" TIME, November 18, 1957, pp. 65

The first page I scanned is a Life magazine advertisement titled “Your Neighbors Make News…” In the top and lower right pictures of the page, we see Americans being represented as good neighbors. In both, there is an implicit call for each American to aide one another and in particular, women and children who were typically represented as in need and weak. These images to the right portray an ideal American as a citizen who helps his or her neighbor. These images characterize the ideal of American society around gestures of humanity and tolerance of the weak and destitute. The success of the country depends on the mutual aide between citizens and specifically, between white communities that qualify as “Americans.” In the picture at bottom right, Miss M. taught her blind neighbor how to cook. Despite her inability to see, the blind woman is lifted by her benevolent neighbor. At top right, the two men in the picture have rescued the two little girls from carbon monoxide. American lives are precious and it is the responsibility of all white Americans to protect each other from anything that could threaten their lives. The democratic concept of a mutually aiding society is very explicitly designed to bring together mainstream America under one ideology: that America is a land composed of a citizenry united under the cause of a shared responsibility to each other. However, this solidarity, if you will, is isolated within the white American community. This page shows little social divisions. There is no representation of racial conflict or anything that divides the nation with the exception of clearly cut gender roles and orientations.

The second of the two pages that I analyzed is titled “Our Way of Living Together in America is a Strong by Delicate Fabric.” This image is from TIME, November 18, 1957. Here, we get a completely different representation of American ideology. The change is startling. First off, there is an acknowledgement of divisions between poor and rich, black and white, Jew and Gentile and even foreign and native born. Americans are no longer the typical face portrayed in the other scanned images I analyzed. There is no context in this advertisement. There appear many groups of people not of actually bodies, but of human shapes filled with many colors. It acknowledges that divisions in American society must be recognized but that the differences among Americans are something to reflect on and reconcile for the greater good of the country. American society at this time is in the thick of the Civil Rights Movement and most recently, the desegregation of schools has just been started. In contrast to the first images which applauded American society’s values, this advertisement admits a flawed society. The final line of the quote from Wendell L. Willkie goes: “For no man knows, once it is destroyed where or when man will find its protective warmth again.” The advertisement is a call at all costs to lift the tensions within American society and recognize how far not only American society has excelled, but also the how close it could come to being destroyed by the tensions within its fabric.

Representations of Corporations

This pair of Westinghouse advertisements appeared in Scientific American - the first in 1945, the second in 1958.



Westinghouse ad, May 1945, p. 291

This ad was shown in the May issue of Scientific American, released April 21, so the ad was designed before the German surrender. However, the main point of the ad is Westinghouse's contribution to the war effort in 1944 - with everything from propulsion engines to insecticides. There's a strong emphasis on their manufacturing abilities, with the subtitle to their name saying "Plants in 25 Cities, Offices Everywhere". The little bar graph has a Production column towering over Wages, Taxes, and Profit. The corporation presents itself as a powerful force in American manufacturing and the war effort in order to sell itself to the American public; the natural conclusion is that those qualities are what the public values.

The human figures shown are task-oriented: working in a factory, using bug spray, flying a plane, or marching in formation. All figures are men, all turn away from the "eye" of the artist. The art glamorizes their productivity and physical actions over their qualities as individuals, reflecting the wartime philosophy of working and sacrificing for the greater good as a unified society, rather than a network of individuals.



Westinghouse recruitment ad, May 1958, p. 89

The second ad is quite different. It is a recruitment ad for the Bettis Atomic Power Division at Westinghouse. A single man strikes a dramatic pose: he's moving up and forward, nicely outfitted with square jaw, suit, and neatly combed hair. Unlike the working men of the first ad, he is clearly an intellectual - the ad calls only for "advanced degrees" in physics, math, etc. - with a book on his desk and a periodic table behind him. Instead of looking at the company's past achievements, the ad points to the challenges of the future ("There is much to be done").

There is no sign of the manufacturing power that was touted in the first ad. Instead, the focus is on theory and research, the abstract concept of atomic power. While the ad is directed at potential employees, those men are part of a broader audience that valorizes the bright future promised by Westinghouse.

Labor/Educational differences in Pre/Post WWII society

This comparison of photos shows the brash distinction of roles developing in the post WWII time period. This first photo (top) was taken in Portland, Oregon during WWII (1940-1945) when the production of wartime goods was essential; essential enough to bring women out into the workplace. This photo shows a whole family, young and old, male or female, being brought into the workforce to help keep the economy and the wartime effort afloat. This hard-labor lifestyle was more a spot of necessity than actually a long-term plan for the nation’s success. This line of work is in direct contradiction to the post-war strategy of establishing the father figure as the breadwinner. Male veterans (below) had all the cards in their favor in this post-war world (1947) as they had the G.I Bill helping fund their education, positioning themselves in a favorable position to be a steady father figure (note the emphasis on children in fathers hands) with a chance to provide and lead a successful “American” family life.


Source Used

Stolley, Richard B., ed. Life Century of Change America in Pictures 1900-2000. Boston, New York, London: Bulfinch P Book, 1999. 51.

Hist272 Class Notes

Guilt Tripping, Consumerism and the American Cowboy

The advertisement for the Chevrolet in the 1953 Forbes magazine usefully illustrates, particularly when compared to the war bond ad in the 1943 Fortune, the evolution of Americanism to one of staunch consumerism and a sort of collective individualism. The WWII advertisement stresses the importance of purchasing War Bonds to support “the guys who come back with one arm or one leg or no eyes”, justifying American involvement as being a “messy job” but one that needs to be done. Americans are encouraged to sacrifice some of their comfort and embrace minimal levels of inconvenience. This is easily contrasted with the Chevrolet ad depicting the perfect nuclear family: mother, father, son and daughter taking a family trip across the great Western expanse of America. The family passes two (for lack of a better term) cowboys greatly embodying the Marlboro Man mystique, almost as if to show that what America used to be during the times of the oil and gold rushes is no longer topical; times have changed and now a regular family of four can afford a car and simply “passes through”. Not just a car, but one with increased fuel efficiency,[1] the underlying idea being one can have more disposable income available to buy more luxury goods. Everything about the Chevrolet ad is domestic and idyllic while the war bond advertisement is shocking and somewhat divisive, especially notable in its minimalist appearance, compared with many other ads of the time that employed various color schemes and images.

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[1] A tell-tale sign of capitalism taking hold as car manufacturers struggled to try to make their products specially appealing because so many Americans could afford them.

Chevrolet's New Gasoline Economy, Forbes Magazine, July 15, 1953, page 3

Scared, Kid? Fortune Magazine, July 1943, page 149