Friday’s ad is our last trade ad for March, by the United States Brewing Industry Foundation, from the early 1940s. After prohibition ended, the industry started doing PSA-type ads in an attempt to create goodwill for beer and brewers. They would later go on to do a fairly sophisticated series of ads between 1946 and 1956, known unofficially as Beer Belongs. Officially, they were “The Home Life in America” series, consisting of 120 ads, with a new ad running in major periodicals each month. Last year, for my Beer in Ads series, I featured every one of them. But in the years before that, the U.S. Brewing Industry Foundation (a precursor to the original Brewer’s Association) dabbled with a variety of similar ads promoting the industry as a whole. These were especially popular during World War 2, and in fact they even won an award from the government for some of these ads. Most of the ads were black and white, although a few were in color, though usually in a minimal way, with a few colors accented rather than being in full color.

In this ad, entitled simply “What is Beer?,” it depicts eleven different people involved in the creation, selling and consumption of beer. Some you’ll expect, like the brewer, of course, along with the farmer and the tax collector. But I wasn’t expecting the poet. But I guess it makes sense. As they suggest. “It is the beverage of friendship, good company and good inspiration.”

Wednesday’s ad is a trade ad, by the United States Brewing Industry Foundation, from 1938. After prohibition ended, the industry started doing PSA-type ads in an attempt to create goodwill for beer and brewers. They would later go on to do a fairly sophisticated series of ads between 1946 and 1956, known unofficially as Beer Belongs. Officially, they were “The Home Life in America” series, consisting of 120 ads, with a new ad running in major periodicals each month. Last year, for my Beer in Ads series, I featured every one of them. But in the years before that, the U.S. Brewing Industry Foundation (a precursor to the original Brewer’s Association) dabbled with a variety of similar ads promoting the industry as a whole. These were especially popular during World War 2, and in fact they even won an award from the government for some of these ads. Most of the ads were black and white, although a few were in color, though usually in a minimal way, with a few colors accented rather than being in full color.

In this ad, one of the earliest by the UBIF, and labelled as part of a series entitled “THE RECORD … Facts That Concern You.” I’ve only found a few from the series, so I’m unsure just how many were actually created and published. The ad itself is titled “The Story of Relief From Relief” is a catchall of themes they’d later explore in more depth, about creating jobs, paying taxes, helping farmers and trying to make bars safer and lawful places.

Tuesday’s ad is a trade ad, by the United States Brewing Industry Foundation, from 1940. After prohibition ended, the industry started doing PSA-type ads in an attempt to create goodwill for beer and brewers. They would later go on to do a fairly sophisticated series of ads between 1946 and 1956, known unofficially as Beer Belongs. Officially, they were “The Home Life in America” series, consisting of 120 ads, with a new ad running in major periodicals each month. Last year, for my Beer in Ads series, I featured every one of them. But in the years before that, the U.S. Brewing Industry Foundation (a precursor to the original Brewer’s Association) dabbled with a variety of similar ads promoting the industry as a whole. These were especially popular during World War 2, and in fact they even won an award from the government for some of these ads. Most of the ads were black and white, although a few were in color, though usually in a minimal way, with a few colors accented rather than being in full color.

In this ad, which appears to be about the C.C.C., which I confess I didn’t know what that meant. Apparently C.C.C. stands for Civilian Conservation Corps, and here’s a description from Wikipedia:

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families as part of the New Deal. Originally for young men ages 18–25, it was eventually expanded to young men ages 17–28. Robert Fechner was the head of the agency. It was a major part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal that provided unskilled manual labor jobs related to the conservation and development of natural resources in rural lands owned by federal, state and local governments. The CCC was designed to provide jobs for young men, and to relieve families who had difficulty finding jobs during the Great Depression in the United States. At the same time, it implemented a general natural resource conservation program in every state and territory. Maximum enrollment at any one time was 300,000. Over the course of its nine years in operation, 3 million young men participated in the CCC, which provided them with shelter, clothing, and food, together with a small wage of $30 (about $547 in 2015) a month ($25 of which had to be sent home to their families).

So the beer industry was suggesting in this ad that this popular program cost many times less than all of the taxes paid on beer, and therefore the industry was helping out with the good work of the corps. In fact, only four days of beer taxes were needed to fund it for an entire year. Not bad. Drink up, you’re helping conserve our natural resources.

Monday’s ad is a trade ad, by the United States Brewing Industry Foundation, from 1940. After prohibition ended, the industry started doing PSA-type ads in an attempt to create goodwill for beer and brewers. They would later go on to do a fairly sophisticated series of ads between 1946 and 1956, known unofficially as Beer Belongs. Officially, they were “The Home Life in America” series, consisting of 120 ads, with a new ad running in major periodicals each month. Last year, for my Beer in Ads series, I featured every one of them. But in the years before that, the U.S. Brewing Industry Foundation (a precursor to the original Brewer’s Association) dabbled with a variety of similar ads promoting the industry as a whole. These were especially popular during World War 2, and in fact they even won an award from the government for some of these ads. Most of the ads were black and white, although a few were in color, though usually in a minimal way, with a few colors accented rather than being in full color.

In this ad, showing one black sheep grazing among a dozen white ones, the message is none to subtle. And if you still weren’t sure, the headline should seal the deal. “Sure … everybody notices the one black sheep! The ad copy goes on to explain that’s why their new program is designed to get rid of every bad beer retailer.”

Sunday’s ad is a trade ad, by the United States Brewing Industry Foundation, from 1939. After prohibition ended, the industry started doing PSA-type ads in an attempt to create goodwill for beer and brewers. They would later go on to do a fairly sophisticated series of ads between 1946 and 1956, known unofficially as Beer Belongs. Officially, they were “The Home Life in America” series, consisting of 120 ads, with a new ad running in major periodicals each month. Last year, for my Beer in Ads series, I featured every one of them. But in the years before that, the U.S. Brewing Industry Foundation (a precursor to the original Brewer’s Association) dabbled with a variety of similar ads promoting the industry as a whole. These were especially popular during World War 2, and in fact they even won an award from the government for some of these ads. Most of the ads were black and white, although a few were in color, though usually in a minimal way, with a few colors accented rather than being in full color.

In this ad, which is almost entirely text, the United Brewers Industrial Foundation was proposing a voluntary program whereby they were trying to clean up beer’s image, so they created a “Brewer’s Code of Practice,” a part of which was to undo the anti-social aspects and images of drinking beer. The new foundation apparently represented over half of total beer production at that time, so they felt like this was a goal they could tackle, I suppose. They also invited consumers to help them by rooting out bad beer places. And I love this bit of wisdom, which sounds so modern. “There is nothing more promising to combat the evil of too much alcohol than the opportunity of drinking good beer.” In other words, drink less, but better beer.