Monday’s ad is for is by the United Brewers Industrial Foundation, from 1938. Beginning during World War II, the USBIF began a series of positive ads under the name “Morale is a Lot of Little Things” followed by an unnumbered series of illustrated ads that were a precursor to the numbered “Home Life in America,” the crown jewel of ads which ran from 1945 to 1956, also known as the Beer Belongs series. But they didn’t end there, and for a short time afterward, beginning in 1956, several more similar ads were created but without the numbering or the “Home Life in America” association. But even before those efforts, the UBIF put their toe in the trade advertising pond with ads under the title “The Record … Facts That Concern You” and always ending with the tagline “Beer … a beverage of moderation,” and the continued on with some similar-themed ads after that.
In this ad, with the headline “Yes… the brewers do mean business,” the ad is all about “Beer Statesmanship” and ensuring all of the bars and retailers selling beer post-prohibition do so in a positive manner with no illegal activities or unscrupulous practices taking place in them. This was their attempt to clean up their image and, in effect, undo the damage of the smear campaign and propaganda that the prohibitionists employed to get prohibition passed in the first place, and which they returned to immediately after its repeal.
