World War II was a global war fought between major countries of the world along with their allies. The war continued for 6 years and proved to be one of the deadliest ones with over 85 million deaths. In order to gain support from the general public, different types of advertisements were run by the governments as well as brands. Some of these turned out to be very popular advertisements due to the unique style of gaining public support, creating awareness and promoting the brand itself.

M & Ms Candy

M & Ms promoted itself to be the brand that was 100% at war and was supporting the soldiers. The company claimed itself to be providing 100% support because more than 200,000 pounds of M & Ms every week from which most of the chocolate was sent out to the military. Since the hard sugar coating on top prevented the chocolate from melting or expiring quickly, M & Ms became reserved for military purposes. As all soldiers had chocolate in their diet to keep themselves warm in extreme temperatures, M & Ms did the job perfectly. The advertisement by the company gained itself a fame as well as encouraged people to donate more to support M & Ms in helping out the soldiers.

Coca Cola

Coca Cola was one of those companies which paid special attention to its advertisement and catered to it according to World War II. One of the most popular advertisements was the one where a pilot was shown drinking a coca cola while on a break. It suggested that a bottle of coca cola could eliminate your thirst for a long while. The tagline for this ad was “Your Thirst Takes Wings”. Other popular ads by Coca Cola include the one where numerous soldiers were having a coke along with the generals. It depicted that the element of refreshment among the soldiers and generals was due to Coca Cola. It also gave the image of unity among the generals and soldiers. The brand was highly appreciated for such ads as it gave a sense of corporate social responsibility.

Government Ads

The World War II Ads were also in the form of governmental awareness ads. These ads had different types of themes and were regularly published in the different types of newspapers and magazines. One of the most popular advertisements included the one which urged people to provide scrap material to the collectors as it was quite useful in war. These ads urged people to donate bones, scrap metal, and paper as well. This campaign turned out to be quite successful in The Great Britain as the people actually started giving away extra scrap material. Other types of popular advertisements urged the people to not speak much or give away any important information as many countries had started using spies. The government wanted the people to not engage in any kind of useless talk so as to prevent any important information leaking out. Much of these ads went increasingly popular because of the very harsh tone that was being used in the messages. One such ad showed a picture which said “Wanted For Murder! Her Careless Talk Costs Lives”.

Some government ads asked the women at home to help and support at war by doing the different types of chores. One such advertisement asked the women at home to train and become registered nurses so that they could help out soldiers that were injured during war.

Pall Mall Cigarettes

In the year 1941, Pall Mall Cigarettes launched a war-based advertisement that showed two different soldiers comparing the different Cigarettes and the advertisement suggested that “Pall Mall’s modern design filters the smoke – lessens throat irritation”. The secondary tagline of this ad was “Wherever particular people congregate”. The ad was based on the premise that the soldiers smoking the Pall Mall Cigarettes will have a reduced irritation due to better design. The ad gave the concept that soldiers at war should use the right kind of cigarettes.

US Employment Service

The advertisement by the US Employment service urged the women and men at homes to do the jobs which were not being completed. The US Employment service wanted extra employees to work. One such as suggested “Do the job HE left behind”. Another such as suggested “We Need you to work for us”. Since most men were employed at war, the different chores needed to be completed on time. The US employment service ads were mainly targeted towards the women. An advertisement by the company said “Longing him won’t bring him back sooner! Get a War Job”. As a result of these kinds of advertisements, the US employment service saw a sudden rise in the applications by women as a way of supporting their men at war.

Conclusion

There were different types of popular advertisements that were campaigned during World War II. Many different brands not only presented a good image but were also able to cash out the opportunity. Some of the World War II ads were also considered to be unnecessary propaganda as well since they just led to extra hate rather than useful outcomes. Nonetheless, these were some of the most interesting ads of World War II.