War Time and its Effect on Advertising

After Reading Man Appeal Advertising, Modernism and Menswear by Paul Jobling (2005) summarise the evidence suggesting this was an important period of time in advertising history. 

1914 to 1939 was the time period that would determine the survival or destruction of advertising. With the First World War on the horizon all civilian utilities and resources were cut in order to produce the items that were needed for the fighting men over seas. In particular wool and other cloths for clothing manufacture and paper. The restrictions of paper to ‘600 square inches’ meant that advertising was not only limited by technology but also by the context of War time and rationing which was rather engulfing, as nations struggled for survival. The  Daily Express divulged to advertisers that the set backs in paper allowance meant that ‘we cannot accommodate all advertisers at present.’ These restrictions in the economical climate and manufacturing industry threatened to destroy advertising through war time (at the very least).  People had to try and sell lower quality goods at higher prices. Therefore innovations had to be made in order to advertise to a greater span of people for a lower cost. For example ‘Sydney Presbury & Co. promoted the use of manufacture lantern slides in music halls and cinemas’ they advised their customers that altough the expenditure would be greater than posters, the amount of people to see the adverts would be far greater than most poster adverts to come before them. This attitude to overcome the seemingly hopeless financial and manufactural climate made advertisers change their tactics yet again in order to survive in a world that would have readily forgotten them in the whirlwind that was the First World War. 

The ideas about where to advertise were not the only reinventions of the time ‘Sidney Garland (adverting manager of Selfidge & Co 1919)’ demonstrated a very important point. That advertising became about ‘quality and individuality immediately after the First World War.’ Adverts had always focused on quality and style in the past but individuality was a new dimension which shaped the industry with a particular focus on mens clothing and tailoring to make suits specific to the wearer. This identification of a new era in advertising made the ideology particularly influential on the history of advertising as if out of the ashes of the war advertising had not diminished but reinvented its message to suit the needs of the new man that was created as a result of it.

From; Man Appeal Advertising, Modernism and Menswear by Paul Jobling (2005)

An example of a Butchers lantern slide advert for Attwells Butchers.