WORLD WAR BRANDS

A marketing expert examines the intersection of World War II and various American brands.

As a historian with 40 years of experience in the marketing arena, Silversteinis keenly aware of the centrality of branding to 20th-century advertising. Here, he centers World War II as the catalyst for the later state of that industry. However, the work begins with World War I, during which the government launched an extensive advertising campaign that ranged from the famous “I Want You for U.S. Army” poster to conservationist appeals to consumers to eat corn flakes instead of wheat-based cereals. This initial foray into wartime propaganda with advertisers and private companies was “perfected” during World War II, Silverstein says. Moreover, the author points out how many American companies used the conflict to boost profits. For instance, a centerpiece of Coca-Cola’s branding was its pledge “that every soldier in the field would be able to buy a Coke for a nickel.” This campaign, the author notes, secured Coca-Cola 64 new bottling plants in Europe, including some personally requested by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. Other products, from Jeeps to M&Ms, were first created for wartime use. The book concludes with the rise of modern advertising in the 1950s and ’60s, fueled by an economic and consumerist boom that was itself a product of the war. Three dozen print-ad reproductions complement the book’s engaging writing style, which sometimes tends toward nostalgia: “If you’re over sixty-five years of age, you are likely to remember a number of these brands and their catchy television jingles from your childhood.” Overall, it’s a convincing history about the role of World War II in developing brand consciousness among consumers in the United States. However, aside from looking at the “Dark Side” of branding in a chapter on corporate partnerships with Nazi Germany, it approaches most advertising campaigns with dewy-eyed sentimentality. Discerning readers may desire deeper analysis of the negative ramifications of business-government partnerships inside the U.S., which gave rise to the corporatization of the postwar American economy.

A skillfully written, if sometimes-uncritical, advertising history.