Sunday’s ad is by the Brewing Industry Foundation, from 1944, part of a series of ads the beer industry undertook during World War 2 under the title “Morale is a Lot of Little Things.” It was one of the first concerted efforts by the brewing industry after they were getting back on their feet after prohibition finally ended around a decade before. The series tried to show support for the troops and help with morale at home. And it must have worked, because the campaign won awards at the time. In this ad, a U.S. Marine is writing a letter home, and he’s remembering all of the picnics they used to take Mary on. I wonder if that’s the same Mary they earlier taught to use a baseball bat? It’s just another one of those little morale builders, like “the right to enjoy a refreshing glass of beer.”
Unfortunately, this was the best resolution of the ad I could find. But I did manage to find the original artwork, and it turns out it was done by Douglass Crockwell, who did a number of the Beer Belongs series that the UBIF did after the War and into the 1950s.
