World War II and American Brands
I was born in 1948, a few years after the end of World War II, so I didn’t experience it first-hand. Still, my father was a medical doctor in the war and he had many stories to tell. Like other boys who grew up in the Fifties, I was simultaneously fascinated and horrified by World War II. I saw the outcome from an American perspective – good decisively defeating evil.
I didn’t think much about the war in adulthood. I spent my professional career doing marketing programs for brands. I’ve written several books about brands; in two of those books, I chronicled brands of the 1950s and 1960s that appealed to my generation – I called them “Boomer Brands.” In considering how those brands originated, I began to wonder what role World War II might have played in influencing their rise.
As I researched the interrelationship of World War II and American brands, I realized that branding took on a broader meaning. World War II itself was “branded” by the American government in association with American brand advertisers, who collectively and aggressively promoted war bonds, victory gardens and patriotism throughout the war years. In fact, there was a financial incentive offered by the U.S. government to do so. Radio, newspapers, magazines, posters and film were painstakingly coordinated in a media campaign designed to disseminate government sponsored war-related messages – in reality war propaganda – often supported by specific brands. It was quite a remarkable branding effort. It turns out that this wasn’t the first time America branded a war: The American government and business had done this before, during World War I (also known as the Great War). But they perfected their partnership in World War II.
World War II had a profound impact on American brands. In addition to brands directly aligning their products with the war effort, some brands, such as Coca-Cola, used the war as a clever way to engender positive perceptions by distributing their products to American forces. Other brands actually had their roots in the war. For example, M&Ms were introduced in 1941 for soldiers; they were designed with a hard candy outer shell so the chocolate inside wouldn’t melt on the battlefield. Early on, M&Ms were used exclusively by the American military before they were widely available to consumers. Jeeps became synonymous with American ground forces. The jeep was as essential a piece of military equipment as boots and weapons. “Jeep” grew directly out of its military use to become an automobile brand. Both brands, M&Ms and Jeep, remain as popular today as during the World War II era.
Just as important, the post-war economy led to the rise of the American middle class. The war fueled strong economic growth that turned the country into a major global force. Americans were thrilled to break out of wartime frugality; they enthusiastically adopted the role of materialistic consumers. They were ready, willing and able to purchase a wide range of consumer products. Manufacturers were happy to oblige; the result was that post-war America became a bubbling cauldron of scores of inventive, innovative brands. When television came along, marketing those brands rose to a whole new level.
This book is about both the branding of World War II and the impact the war had on the modern American brand. I intend for it to be informal and hopefully entertaining rather than a scholarly study. I approach the subject as a marketing professional, not a credentialed historian. Unlike other World War II books, this book doesn’t focus on the reasons for war or the war itself; rather, it presents an exploration of the interplay
between World War II and American brands. It examines American brands historically, from right before to right after World War II. In so doing, I hope to make a compelling case that World War II greatly contributed to the rise of the modern American brand.
How This Book is Organized
1. Part I lays the groundwork for my thesis. It is an overview of the American brand between World War I and World War II. This section is a kind of preamble that
reflects on brands and their role in popular culture prior to World War II. It will be apparent that the Great War was “branded,” and American brands played a role in marketing the war.
2. Part II covers the branding of World War II. I discuss the primary media and techniques that were used by the American government and American brands to support the war effort and spread propaganda about the war. The heart of the book presents how American brands marketed themselves during World War II. Here, you’ll see how specific brands integrated their marketing message with the war, and how some brands used the war to increase their own product awareness and sales. I also discuss the dark side of war brands – both American and foreign brands that collaborated with the enemy. Some of the brands we know today emerged as market leaders during this time, while others have been relegated to the dustbin of history.
3. Part III addresses brands in the context of American post-war culture, moving from the war’s end into the 1950s and 1960s. This part demonstrates how the consumerism of post-war America led quite directly to the birth of breakthrough brands and modern brand
marketing strategies, helped along by a major media development called television. Many brands from this time have survived and thrived into the 21st Century. 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. If you’re
younger, you will probably get a kick out of discovering how brands that continue to be vibrant today really got their start.
4. The Appendix contains numerous print ads from the World War II era. Each ad is numbered. The text will reference an ad in the Appendix by its number like this: (Appendix, 1).
If you want to learn more about the branding aspects of World War II or the many brands covered in this book, check out the Sources section for weblinks to additional information. Also included in that section are links to some of the original television commercials for brands referenced in the book.
I hope you enjoy this journey into an intriguing period of American history that I call “World War Brands.”
