The Douglas Aircraft Company's Advertisement: An Analysis
Running Header: Milk: the New Weapon of Democracy
During the Cold War, the Soviets were trying to spread communism throughout Europe and Asia by exalting its achievements, and undermining democracy. Part of their approach was by launching ‘Hate-America’ propaganda. “As the Cold War intensified, the Truman administration launched an aggressive “Campaign of Truth” […] to counter the Soviet Union propaganda machine (Ubah, 2012).” The Campaign of Truth was created to help convince the world that the United States has “no purpose of going to war, except in the defense of freedom. (Vaccaro, 1950)” Truman encouraged the media to show the world that the United States was ‘wholly dedicated to the cause of peace (Vaccaro, 1950).” In 1948, The Soviet Army had closed all roads and railways into West Berlin, causing all deliveries to cease, cutting off supplies to more than 2 million people; this was known as the “Berlin Blockade” (Cold War Museum, 2012). During the Berlin Blockade, food was being used as a motivation to succumb to communism. The Soviets believed that the people would be forced to give into communism in order to survive. This didn’t cause America and their allies to give up; the Americans coordinated an airlift that flew supplies like coal, gasoline, and food into the western parts of Berlin (Underwood, 2008). This airlift lasted for 324 days, and approximately 13,000 tons of supplies a day were delivered. The Douglas Aircraft Company, whose “C-54 airplanes were the backbone of the campaign”, released an advertisement with its headline: “Milk . . . new weapon of democracy (Standage, 2010).” The Douglas Aircraft advertisement is portraying the saving grace that was being provided to the Berliners by the airdrops that released supplies by the tons, predominantly from Douglas Aircraft planes, into West Berlin. Through the dark clouds, appear rays of sunshine surrounding the aircrafts; this helps portray the Douglas Aircraft Company’s
During the Cold War, the Soviets were trying to spread communism throughout Europe and Asia by exalting its achievements, and undermining democracy. Part of their approach was by launching ‘Hate-America’ propaganda. “As the Cold War intensified, the Truman administration launched an aggressive “Campaign of Truth” […] to counter the Soviet Union propaganda machine (Ubah, 2012).” The Campaign of Truth was created to help convince the world that the United States has “no purpose of going to war, except in the defense of freedom. (Vaccaro, 1950)” Truman encouraged the media to show the world that the United States was ‘wholly dedicated to the cause of peace (Vaccaro, 1950).” In 1948, The Soviet Army had closed all roads and railways into West Berlin, causing all deliveries to cease, cutting off supplies to more than 2 million people; this was known as the “Berlin Blockade” (Cold War Museum, 2012). During the Berlin Blockade, food was being used as a motivation to succumb to communism. The Soviets believed that the people would be forced to give into communism in order to survive. This didn’t cause America and their allies to give up; the Americans coordinated an airlift that flew supplies like coal, gasoline, and food into the western parts of Berlin (Underwood, 2008). This airlift lasted for 324 days, and approximately 13,000 tons of supplies a day were delivered. The Douglas Aircraft Company, whose “C-54 airplanes were the backbone of the campaign”, released an advertisement with its headline: “Milk . . . new weapon of democracy (Standage, 2010).” The Douglas Aircraft advertisement is portraying the saving grace that was being provided to the Berliners by the airdrops that released supplies by the tons, predominantly from Douglas Aircraft planes, into West Berlin. Through the dark clouds, appear rays of sunshine surrounding the aircrafts; this helps portray the Douglas Aircraft Company’s
References: Cold War Museum. (2012) Cold War Museum. http://www.coldwar.org/articles/40s/berlin_blockade.asp Standage, Tom. (2010). Book Reviews- An Edible History of Humanity. Journal of Wine Economics, 5(2), 339-347. http://wineeconomics.org/journal/content/Volume5/number2/Full%20Texts/5_wineeconomics_vol%205_2_Book_Reviews.pdf Ubah, A. A. (2012). The birth of post-war U.S. government propaganda: The Truman administration and its ideological struggle with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Georgetown: Georgetown University- Liberal Studies. Underwood, H. (2008, June 26). Berlin Airlift: first skirmish of the Cold War. The Week. http://www.theweek.co.uk/26629/berlin-airlift-first-skirmish-cold-war Vaccaro, E. (1950, April 20). Truman Calls for Truth Campaign. The Modesto Bee, p. 1. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1948&dat=19500420&id=_k0hAAAAIBAJ&sjid=K4IFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1536,3593470