Advertising was just as bad during World War II as it is now. And writers were just as snarky.

Dear Yank:

Not long ago we heard that a popular weekly magazine in the States had printed an advertisement which was described as having a cartoon with "an indelicate and offensive military angle." However, since I have seen the drawing which was called objectionable I am confused. It shows three soldiers (the home front no longer approves of our calling ourselves GIs) in a lush Pacific jungle, all of them prepared for combat. One gives the order, "We attack at 12:10, take the point at 12:20 and return here for (a popular soft drink) at 12:30."

My chief concern is that this dissatisfaction may result in the total disappearance, of poster
art with a military angle and rob me of my ties with home and everything that is dear to me.

I submit the following classification of ads which have given me particular pleasure since I
have been in uniform:

The first is the "All for Our Boys" ad which may also be called the "you'll get yours later"
Layout. I first thrilled to this type of display after I had eaten beans, Spam, powdered eggs
and C-rations for three weeks and then came upon a picture of myself in one of the popular
weeklies. I was in spotless sun-tans, properly tanned, healthy, clean and grinning. I was grinning because I was lugging a bright tray divided into six compartments loaded with a $1.50 steak,
fresh vegetables, crisp salad and ice cream. The thing about these ads that pleases me is not the
fantasy and imagination employed, but the glamor with which our life is portrayed for those
back home. Uniforms are never dirty and unpressed; the portholes of the combat-bound
transport always show a travel-talk horizon and a beautiful woman with flowers around her neck,
and up beside the now-still howitzer is a full case of that drink I can't do without. I like to see
things like that.

My second type is the "Buckies Wuckies Have Gone to War" dirge. Into this classification fall the full pages which reprint letters from former employees to large business concerns telling how they would have been unable to knock out that third tank without that wonderful lubricant
which has been specially designed not to freeze, stain, corrode or lubricate (oops!). I suggest that
these are highly educational and informative subjects and should not be denied us for their
value as combat tips. Why, by the unsolicited testimony of thousands of unprejudiced authorities, battles have been won in 27 countries by spark plugs, shaving cream, condensed milk, chocolate bars and cosmetic tissue. Also by these commercial methods, my wife is happily lulled into thinking that I am issued a spanking new, watertight oilskin-lined, form-fitting and rust-resisting pouch for used razor blades which was made for me by the former makers of outstanding brassieres.

These same copywriters have comforted much of the home front with pictures of neat cross-marked graves under which is written "There will be fewer of these if you keep vital information under your (popular brand) hat".

Our third and most exciting type which has given me endless diversion, is the "What Kind
of World Are You Returning to?" design, more vulgarly called "After Roosevelt – What?" These combine a "you too can have a private pipe organ" motif with the apology that due to circumstances not under control of the manufacturer, the item is only being supplied for the armed forces. This last note is stolen from type No. 2. These plastic dreams lead us to believe that no one can live in the postwar world and throw stones. However, some schism in the ranks of copywriters has led to a conflicting and contradictory note. While some of them are suggesting
that we expect to return to homes scented with the six delicious flavors, others maintain that we want to come back to find things just the way we left them.

I have not included the "My Reverie" type, for I do not think it represents the high aim of
the craft. This version shows a freckled airman (always at least a captain) in an attitude of
prayer, hoping that he will come home to find his favorite milk shake still available at the corner druggist's. I have rejected this type because it usually includes the mercenary assurance that
he will find it

Unfortunately most of the magazines available to the forces overseas are printed without advertisements. I have a distinct sense of insecurity when I think that perhaps men may return from the fighting fronts and foolishly demand to get their news and fiction without that necessary
embellishment that makes it all readable – the advertisements.

T-4 ROSS DONALDSON

Source: YANK, 6 April, 1945.

Dmitri Gheorgheni

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