Giving the Global High Sign: Coca-Cola Advertising of the “American Way” in Life Magazine, 1941-1947
Abstract
Magazine advertising through these years marketed American products to a consumer base that was becoming more patriotic. This “patriotic consumerism” manifested itself both in its foundational support for the United States’ involvement in World War II and in its constant implementation of the “American Dream” ideology that mixed nostalgia and modernity in preparation of a post-war world. Expanding upon the resulting cultural behavior of classifying the support of American business as a quasi-civic duty, The Coca-Cola Company successfully situated the “American Way of Life” as a global aspiration through its product’s entanglement in the global settings of war, ensuring that Coca-Cola would symbolically safeguard the era following Allied victories in Europe and the Pacific as the “American Century."
First Advisor
Douglas C. Sackman
Degree Type
Dissertation/Thesis
Rights
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts in History
Date of Award
Spring 5-15-2016
Department
History
Recommended Citation
Greenfield, Scott, "Giving the Global High Sign: Coca-Cola Advertising of the “American Way” in Life Magazine, 1941-1947" (2016). History Theses. 20.
https://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/history_theses/20
Included in
American Popular Culture Commons, Cultural History Commons, Mass Communication Commons, Public Relations and Advertising Commons, Social Influence and Political Communication Commons