Movie InfluenceStar power Science and cigarettes Depression advertising World War Two Arming the troops |
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Blatant Name-Dropping Not only is advertising showing a lot more 'face', but some of the faces in ads are already familiar from recent movie hits. Judy Garland as a housewife is perhaps a bit off-putting (left), but Joan Crawford and Jean Harlow are sure-fire attention-getters. | |||||||||
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Experts in Charge Science is making America more amazing every day, and the allure of scientific expertise is subtly used to hawk products. The 20,000 doctors who apparently endorse smoking (center) is one example. Exuberant amateurs, getting in on the fun with new high-end cameras, manage to display cigarettes in their free hand. | |||||||||
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Maintaining a Positive Outlook The Great Depression which follows the 1929 stock market crash nearly brings America to its knees, but you'd never know it from the advertising. Happy days have arrived for the owners of amazing new refrigerators, which don't require big blocks of ice just to keep drinks cold. And radios can now be enjoyed even in cars. | |||||||||
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Jump Shift By the time the country is finally drawn into World War Two, by the Japanese sneak-attack on Pearl Harbor, Americans have been turning a deaf ear to the distressing news of Hitler's conquests in Europe for three solid years. With America finally involved, however, factories that once made millions of cars are now turning out thousands of airplanes and tanks. Almost overnight. Everyone is needed for the war effort, including housewives. Subtle government propaganda sneaks its way into magazines. | |||||||||
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We're Doing Our Part Some of America's biggest manufacturers of commercial products are now showing up as the stout defenders of democracy. America's involvement in the war is mostly confined to fighting the Japanese in the Pacific for the first three years. But American GIs are eventually shipping to Europe to fight alongside the British in Italy. The following year, they arrive in Britain in time for the big D-Day invasion, spearheaded by American troops and weapons. | |||||||||