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Part II: War themes in advertising, 1914-1916
A study of war-related advertisements in American family-oriented magazines, primarily the Saturday Evening Post, suggested themes used to sell products emphasized patriotism and conservation.(1) American and British newspaper and magazine advertising during World War II emphasized conservation as well, addressing matters of rationing and shortages.(2)
In contrast, advertising examined for this study did not at any time emphasize conservation, or admit shortages. Instead, it is possible to separate war-related advertising themes into four distinct categories:
Beginning in fall 1914, first appeals were most direct and straightforward, but as the war continued they become more sophisticated, showing a trend from straightforward arguments to those using war in iconography and metaphor.
This evolution began from nothing, literally: nearly four months passed before the first war-related advertisement. But by fall 1914, the shock of war was turning to acceptance of a conflict now likely to be longer than the few weeks people had expected. Civilians tried to resume daily routines.(3) This period corresponds to the beginning of war-related advertising. Advertisers appearently decided the war theme could be exploited without risking accusations of bad taste.
First advertisements were simple and direct, merely using the conflict as an opportunity to create new markets for products useful to soldiers themselves: "Send to our dear soldiers--the armor-plated umbrella. It covers and protects the chest, shoulders, back, etc. from rain." [Translations are by the author.]
No description was offered in the Le Petit Meridional ad to explain how the manufacturer armed this umbrella. Attempts to sell armored merchandise for soldiers' use began in Le Petit Provencal October 10, 1914, with a promotion "for the war--armor-plated vests, 9 francs, mailed directly to the soldiers you specify."
For the next few months a wide variety of products were advertised for soldiers, especially the apparently extraordinarily hardy umbrella: "Very flexible, allows free movement, absorbs bullets and bayonets." (Le Petit Provencal, December 6, 1914.)
An advertisement December 2, 1914, under the headline, "Juice," claimed all soldiers looked forward to "juice," French war slang meaning coffee, for breakfast at the front, but "happy are those who can mix in a spoonful of Phoscao, thus making a breakfast stimulating and substantial. So, in your next package mailed to the front, add your Phoscao."
Nearly all of these early advertisements promoted products civilians could mail to soldiers at the front, a category of war-related advertising we might call "happiness and well-being at the front." Advertisers suggested their products would be of interest to soldiers' convenience, pleasure, and safety. Items advertised in 1914 included candles, chocolate, all-weather pens ("to write on the battlefield...with water, wine, coffee, etc.--indispensable to military men"), and an entire Christmas package: "Christmas! Christmas! To furnish our soldiers with a bit of the gentle warmth of the family hearth, it is necessary that they find in their boots on Christmas morning a packet from LA GRANDE MAISON prepared especially for them: "1 hunting vest, 1 Balaclava helmet, 1 vest, 1 pair of shorts, 1 shirt, 1 pair of socks; 22 francs and, free of charge, will be added 1 packet of tobacco and a 1915 datebook." (Le Petit Provencal, December 17, 1914.)
The datebook, one may presume, was essential for keeping track of a poilu's many social engagements. Advertisements under this category began to evolve from practical appeals to emotional appeals beginning in December 1914. An advertisement appearing in the Marseille newspaper December 30, 1914, advised,
"Mothers, spouses, parents, friends! Who are doing their utmost to comfort and give a little happiness to those dear to you who are fighting gloriously to defend the sacred soil of the fatherland, add to your mailings some chocolate bars of renown...."
This ad, appearing half a year into the war, marks the first overt appeal to anxious guilt on the home front. Beginning in 1915, ads under older category, which appealed solely to soldiers' needs, began to evolve into a new appeal which I believe is such a distinct shift in approach that it should be separated into a second category. By 1915 advertisers suggested something new: not only did soldiers need cheering up on the front. They may actually have the occasional ache and pain, best attended to by a commercial remedy.
The shift in appeal to a new level is distinctly felt: the first advertisers carefully avoided suggesting soldiers could be physically discomfitted by battle. But this second category corresponds to evolution of news articles about soldiers at the front. Early in the war, nothing was said about hardships of the fighting men; in fact, during the first couple months it was suggested that the men were happily enjoying their work, eager to merely mop up the enemy and return by Christmas.(4) By 1915, however, reality of the frightful hardships could not be kept from civilians, and newspaper articles began to honestly describe "life in the trenches."(5) Here an advertisement makes use of a common theme from the news columns:
"For our soldiers at the front. In the trenches, snow, rain, and cold bring about daily suffering to our valiant soldiers, such as rheumatism, etc. To remedy this state of things, the Pharmacie du Progres in Beziers has decided to create THE SOLDIER'S POUCH...." (Le Petit Meridional, January 26, 1915.)
Although this advertisement was sponsored by an area pharmacy, many more of the same theme were offered by national advertisers during this period, forming the second category, health at the front. Example:
"For our soldiers, anti-rhumismatant 'Palmol.' Mothers, spouses, parents, friends who have a dear one facing the enemy, add to your mailings a box of 'Palmol,' the only plant extract. Cures rhumatism, chapping, angina....Sending a box of 'Palmol' to every one of our soldiers is an act of patriotism." (Le Petit Provencal, January 23, 1915.)
A medicine to control "trench vermin" was offered in the same newspaper March 9, 1915, and on March 28, 1915, a version of the old technique of startling headline was employed:
"Our boys are afraid of it! Our boys make fun of German bullets, but they all fear toothaches. So the whole trench welcomes like a savior the newcomer bringing in his sack the Abbot Arnol dental truss."
This ad published October 6, 1915, employs a slightly more sophisticated use of military comparison, contending,
"Our boys are bravely defending themselves against the machine gun. Our duty is to defend them against illness. It is for this goal that FUGADOR was created...."
Soldiers, who also read newspapers, were incensed by the suggestion that they made light of German troops--by this time, hundreds of thousands of French soldiers had been killed and the trenches were hell-holes worse than anything imagined by the folks likely to send a dental truss. French troops often complained that the press mis-reported the power of their adversary,(6) and after 1915 advertisers no longer suggested the poilus were laughing at the bullets. By the fall of that year, advertisers began to suggest that diseases more insidious may befall the boys in the trenches. A patent medicine manufacturer in Le Petit Provencal October 15, 1915, warned that certain unspecified infirmities" are not only torture now, but also a menace for the future of becoming impotent, as were the majority of our brave veterans that the war of 1870 left with hopeless suffering. Happily Foster's Pills are here to protect and cure while there is still time."
This advertisement shows evolution of one year of war. War-related advertising was launched with practical appeals to practical needs, such as books, pens, amazing umbrellas, etc. Advertisers used reason-why appeals to rationally explain why soldiers might need this merchandise. But after a few months the writers moved away from utilitarian appeals, and discovered emotional appeals to guilt and fear. The advertisement above, for example, makes an oblique but unmistakable appeal to fear in a country ever anxious of its historically low natality rate.
Before 1916, war-theme advertisements almost never presented merchandise destined for use by civilians. Two small advertisements published in Le Petit Provencal toward the end of 1914 did promote collections of picture-postcards of the war, and "The Golden Book of the war--a complete history with anecdotes of the 1914-15 war, in 4 large volumes." This appeal could be grouped into a third distinct category, needs of the home front. By 1916 advertisers had made a distinct shift in war-related themes: they discovered they could use the war to sell products for use at home.
Appeals of war-theme advertisements moved gradually to home front needs. They began by again calling attention to the needs of soldiers themselves, now at home again for good reason:
"Amputees! Here is a leg, solid, practical, very well perfected, at a price of 130 to 160 francs." (Le Petit Provencal, February 24, 1916.)
Needs of disabled veterans were addressed from 1916 to the end of the war, becoming more sophisticated, as in this example appearing in Le Petit Meridional September 29, 1918: a drawing of two men, one walking normally, the other hobbling on one leg with a crutch, was accompanied by the text,
"These two men are amputees. One drags himself around painfully. The other has almost forgotten his amputation, because he possesses the Frese-Clarke leg, guaranteed 5 years. It provides an easy step, free and natural, with the attractive look of an able-bodied man."
This late-war advertisement in the home-front category, accompanied by a drawing showing two attractive women in the background, is obviously designed to appeal to the emotional need for physical and sexual attractiveness, an emotional appeal so relentless in modern advertising. This trend in war-related advertising here appeared in 1916, and became more sophisticated in 1918. Appeals to emotion generally in advertising began early in the century, but the war accelerated the trend,(7) as seems to be reflected in ads studied here.
Most war-related ads in the home front category focused not on the needs of veterans, however, but on the needs of normal civilians, especially women. An early example of this development appeared in the Montpellier newspaper May 2, 1915:
"Men at the front.
Women on the job. French women are working. In commerce, in business, they have
replaced a husband, a father, a relative gone to the front....
"Some women, however, of a delicate temperament, cannot tackle men's work
without impunity, nor can they direct commerce and important affairs for several
months without great fatigue....To the valiant women who battle on despite their
great fatigue, we recommend the usage of Pink Pills, source of force."
The company marketing "Pink Pills" ("Pilules Pink") advertised heavily throughout the war in both newspapers, often finding new ways to use war-related themes,(8) and usually aiming their ads at women (now the majority of readers) who were depicted as good troopers, but not as robust as men. ("Out of 100 women, 90 of them will be struck by tumors, polyps, fibroma, or other obstructions" warned one patent medicine advertiser.) Another ad for Pink Pills appearing in the Marseille newspaper July 24, 1916, included a drawing of a smartly-dressed wife and a soldier-husband in helmet cradling a small child:
"To welcome those who are returning home for a well-earned rest, it would be unseemly to appear ill. Before their arrival, then, quickly repair those small ravages that days of sorrow, worry, and sleepless nights have put on your appearance. It's easy to do. Take Pink Pills for several days, giving yourself strength with each pill. Soon your force will be reborn, your ringed eyes will become alive and brilliant again...."
This family scene also seems to have the underlying suggestion of fertility, a concept promoted assiduously by authorities in France before and during the war.
Copyright 2004 by Ross F. Collins <www.ndsu.edu/communication/collins>
Part Three and conclusion: war as metaphor