Milk: the New Weapon of Democracy Essay Example
Milk: the New Weapon of Democracy Essay Example

Milk: the New Weapon of Democracy Essay Example

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  • Pages: 3 (586 words)
  • Published: February 1, 2017
  • Type: Essay
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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.”

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

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; 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

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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 effort for peace, giving them an almost heavenly feel, as if they were delivering manna from heaven. The glasses of milk appear to be bombs falling from the skies at first glance, but instead of dropping deadly missiles, they are supplying life.

The young girl, whose hair is in pigtails- which helps illustrate innocence, is looking up into the skies, which are almost heaven-like. She is shown to be a portrayal of the happiness and relief that the Germans are feeling when receiving the support that Douglas Aircraft is providing. The advertisement states that milk is the “New weapon of Democracy”, this helps reinforced the image of fighting the battle without weapons, instead they are fighting it with the dropping of life-giving supplies, for the greater effort of freedom and democracy.

The Douglas Aircraft Company tries to soften their image of air-raiding planes by using the slogan ‘Serving Mankind Around the World. ’ After World War II, American’s most likely viewed air-raiding planes in a negative way, due to the dropping of the atomic bombs in Japan. This ad helps soften the company’s image and helps dismiss the negative judgments that air-raiding planes may have had.

The Douglas Aircraft Company’s advertisement is reassuring to the American people, shedding an encouraging light not only on the efforts of the company’s help, but on America’s aid in the war. This ad is very much the opposite of the

‘Hate-America’ ads that the communists were known to release. Nowhere in the advertisement are there negative depictions or words used; this advertisement helps support the efforts that Truman envisioned in his Campaign of Truth, that requested that the media shows the world that the United States was “wholly dedicated to the cause of peace”.

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