http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2010-673X
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Abstract
Building on extant literature placing consumption as a dominant feature of British life by the interwar period, this article explores how commercial advertising drew on that position on the British home front of the Second World War to explain the part it played within the wider war effort. It reveals how advertising messages stressed free consumption as an indicator of democracy and as a symbol of British national identity. The advertisements analysed highlight how this, to date, overlooked channel of propaganda fell in line with the prevailing narrative of the war, supporting, reinforcing and perpetuating the common vision of that conflict. Whilst it is not suggested that these often fanciful representations were accepted unquestioningly at the time, it is argued that the widespread circulation of such an unequivocal version of events became the definitive, non-negotiable understanding of what Britain’s war was about and how ordinary people could play their part within it.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Noakes and Pattinson, “Introduction: ‘Keep calm and carry on’,” 6.
2 Connelly, We Can Take It!, 3 and Dawson, “History-Writing on World War II,” 1.
3 Calder, The Myth of the Blitz, 1.
4 Morgan and Evans, The Battle for Britain, 15.
5 See McFall, Advertising, Chapter 1.
6 Ibid., 20.
7 Dyer, Advertising as Communication, 2.
8 See Higham, “Scientific Distribution,” 1 in Schwarzkopf, “Respectable Persuaders,” 146.
9 Calder, The Myth of the Blitz, 3.
10 See Trentmann, Free Trade Nation and “Knowing Consumers.”
11 Hilton and Daunton, “Material Politics,” 21. See also Hilton, Consumerism in Twentieth-Century Britain.
12 Rappaport, “Drink Empire Tea,” 142. See also Mackenzie, Propaganda and Empire and Ramamurthy, Imperial Persuaders: Images of Africa and Asia in British Advertising.
13 See speech of Sir John Simon introducing the first war budget to the House of Commons, H.C. Deb., Vol. 360, Col. 84 (23 April 1940).
14 Eley, “Foreword,” xvii.
15 Eley, “The Past Under Erasure?” 557.
16 For a discussion of the methodological aspects of this survey, see Clampin, “The Role of Commercial Advertising.”
17 For a full review of the workings of the advertising industry in wartime Britain, and their relationship with the Government, see Clampin, Advertising and Propaganda in World War II.
18 See Mackay, The Test of War, Chapter 4.
19 Harrison, “War-time Trade,” 10.
20 The Advertising Association, Protect Your BRAND NAME.
21 Moore, President's Address, April 20, 1942.
22 The Newspaper World and Advertising Review, July 10, Citation1941, 14.
23 Harrison, “War-time Trade,” 10.
24 By the time of the Second World War the print press and advertising were well established in a state of mutual dependency. The press were dependent on advertising as a vital source of revenue; advertisers depended on the press as one of the few means by which they could communicate their messages irrespective of the war. This was a situation which persisted with advertising an important revenue stream both in the present but also with an eye to a post-war return to ‘business as usual’. To this extent, the newspapers and magazines referred to in this article were only too happy to carry the advertisements discussed: proprietors of the press throughout the war remained committed to the commercial imperative upon which their empires had been built (see Bromley, “Was It the Mirror Wot Won It?” Clampin, Advertising and Propaganda in World War II; Thomas, “‘A Cloak of Apathy’”).
25 The Advertising Association, Advertising in War-time.
26 Curran and Seaton, Power Without Responsibility, 82 and Conboy, The Press and Popular Culture, 128.
27 The Advertising Association, Advertising in War-time.
28 Needham, “Where Are Our Crusaders?” 67.
29 Moore, President's Address, April 16, 1940.
30 Ashfield, “Foreword,” 9.
31 ‘A Minute of a Stand-up Meal!’ Fry's Sandwich Chocolate, Daily Express, September 13, Citation1939, 3; “I Always Put My Best ‘Fruit’ Forward,” Mason's O.K. Sauce, Picture Post, November 4, Citation1939, 7.
32 ‘A PAGE OF HISTORY’, Lever Brothers, Picture Post, October 5, 1940, 40.
33 See Clampin, Advertising and Propaganda in World War II, 136.
34 Schweppes Table Waters, all appear in the Daily Mail on these respective dates: “Since 1790 … ,” April 10, 1943, 4; “Since the Battle of Valmy,” May 5, 1943, 2; and “Since 1790 … ,” June 3, 1943, 2.
35 See McFall, “A Mediating Institution?” 315.
36 Zweiniger-Bargielowska, Austerity in Britain, 157.
37 Connelly, We Can Take It! 3.
38 “We’re All in It Together,” Knight's Castile Toilet Soap, Picture Post, October 5, 1940, 36.
39 Sturken and Cartwright, Practices of Looking, 3.
40 Ibid., 3.
41 Hurd, “Notes on Hegemony, the War and Cinema,” 18.
42 H. P. Sauce, “Picnicking in Epping Forest,” June 15, 1940, 35 and “Food for the Fishermen,” Picture Post, September 21, 1940, 34.
43 “The Folk at HOME,” Murphy Radio, Picture Post, May 11, 1940, 36.
44 “Overheard in High Street,” Kellogg's Corn Flakes, Daily Mail, December 19, 1941, 2.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
David Clampin
David Clampin, School of Humanities and Social Science—History, Liverpool John Moores University, John Foster Building, 98 Mount Pleasant, Liverpool L3 5UZ, UK. ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2010-673X