Translated from NOS TV in the Netherlands:
“World War I advertisements shameless ”
Monday 11 Nov 2013 , 09:37 (Update: 11-11-13 , 11:43)
By our editor Lambert Teuwissen
The pharmaceutical company Dr. Cassell had no objections to using soldier Riordan for an advertising campaign. “‘Gassed’ at Ypres“, was the headline above a list of all Riordan’s ills. “But then my wife suggested to use Dr. Cassell’s pills. Now I’m back on the mend.” It’s a bit like a sports brand boasting how someone wearing its shoes managed to escape from the burning World Trade Center on 9/11.
Not only for Dr. Cassell, but also for Parker pens, Wrigley’s chewing gum, Kodak cameras and Decca gramophones, with the end of the First World War, 95 years ago today , came also an end to the possibility to use the war for advertising. The Belgian authors writers Anthony Langley and Bert Govaerts prove that this happened frequently in the book ‘Profit! Profit!’. In the Belgian town Poperinge there is an exhibition about it.
Business opportunity
“The war was just a business opportunity,” says Govaerts. “Life goes on and soldiers need soap, fountain pens and cigarettes too. So, these companies profited.” That led to a cigarette advertisement with a gas mask or a Wrigley’s ad with a machine gun spitting out chewing gum. “Shameless”, Govaerts calls the advertising by Dr. Cassell.
…
Advertising was relatively new at the beginning of the 20th century, as was this form of warfare. “It was the first war where everyone was involved, whether you wanted to or not. Before that, wars were more like professional affairs of short duration. But this time, the draft meant that everyone had a father or an uncle with whom one kept in touch. So, the home front could feel about with what was going on there.”
…
“Every officer would need to purchase a Kodak pocket camera” , an Italian advertisement therefore advised. German civilians were given the suggestion to send luminous watches “to our loved ones on the battlefield”. British officers were tempted to buy waterproof trench coats (!) at Burberry’s. “The front had become a market.”
Pride
Prominently in the book, there are also advertisements for companies which had nothing to offer. For example. Triumph motorcycles said proudly in 1917: “Our entire stock is claimed by the British Army”. “That kind of advertising was meant to mean: Remember us when the war will soon be over, we have contributed.”
In the course of the war Govaerts sees a shift in advertising language in Belgium. “In the long run, people became sick of the war and there were less patriotic symbols or war propaganda in the ads. There came brand names with pax in it. A few Germans who still wanted to continue had slogans like “Carry on” and “Until the final victory”, but these were exceptions.”
…
Kassa! Kassa! Reclame in de Eerste Wereldoorlog – Anthony Langley , Bert Govaerts – Davidsfonds – ISBN: 9789058269676.
Related articles
- Too wise to be cannon fodder again: Keating (smh.com.au)
My sweet friend, I have nominated you for Blog of The Year Award 2013! Congratulations! Please visit this link: http://transcendingbordersblog.wordpress.com/2013/11/11/blog-of-the-year-award-2013/
LikeLike
Dear Tazein, congratulations for your well-deserved award!
Thanks so much for nominating this blog, which will blog about this later 🙂
LikeLike
Pingback: British taxpayers’ money for ‘celebrating’ World War I | Dear Kitty. Some blog
My grandfather was gassed at Ypres, but I don’t remember him telling me about these tablets..
LikeLike
Indeed. And if he would have had those tablets and would have told about them, then I doubt whether the story would have been full of praise.
LikeLike
Pingback: Cameron’s jingoist ‘celebration’ of World War I start | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: British suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst, new biography | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: World War I should not be celebrated | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: First World War, why? | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: World War I, music and satire | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: World War One in London musical | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: British ballet about World War I | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: World War I, art exhibition in The Hague | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: British Christian anti-war socialist George Lansbury | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Big anti-austerity march in London | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: First world war in a German novel | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: British World War I media censorship | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: John Berger’s new poetry book | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: World War I and animals, exhibition | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Rare mushroom in Flanders for first time ever | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Margaret Thatcher, chemical weapons and economic crisis | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: World War I Somme bloodbath, 100 years ago | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Passchendaele, World War I bloodbath of poets and other soldiers | Dear Kitty. Some blog