Another popular artist, John Gannam, who created 19 of the ads, was best known for his watercolors. Decades before, Gannam was one of a handful of artist that “brought American illustration to international preeminence in the 1930s” and in 1981 was elected to the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame.
But perhaps the most well-known artist who worked on the “Beer Belongs” campaign, especially today, is Haddon Sundblom. Sundblom was one of the most famous commercial artists of the last century and created the Quaker Oats man still in use today, among much else. But his most famous contribution was his image of Santa Claus that he created in 1931 for Coca-Cola. Before that time, St. Nicholas could be tall or short, fat or thin and wearing any number of colors and outfits. For 33 years, Sundblom painted ads featuring a jolly Santa Claus wearing red and white (not coincidentally Coke’s colors) which were so popular that his version became established as the image of Santa Claus, even today. Sundblom worked on a dozen of the ads in the “Home Life in America” series.
In all, twenty artists worked on the works of art created for the series between 1945 and 1956. After the numbered series ended, at least seven more were produced in 1956, the final year, which are similar to the series, with the same art and copy, but are not numbered. Throughout the twelve years the ads ran, they were seen by millions and millions of people in the most popular periodicals of the day. In addition to Collier’s, Life, U.S. News and Time, eventually the “Home Life in America” series ads also ran in American Legion, Farm & Ranch, Fortune, Look, McCall’s, Sunset and Woman’s Home Companion.
An Unlikely Ally
During and after World War II, the still-active prohibitionists realized that the federal government was no longer a willing ally or accomplice. According to Maureen Ogle, author of Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer, for this reason they instead turned their attention to advertising, “and the prohibitionists targeted all media—print, radio and television—they didn’t want any alcohol advertising.” They realized they couldn’t stop alcohol “so they attacked it for any reason, looking for any angle. They wanted new regulation for alcohol on TV. As a result, the beer lobby became more important.”
But the brewing industry’s cooperation with the government during the war helped their cause, and they were finally able to present a unified front through a truly national and all-encompassing trade organization. The “Home Life in America” and the “Beer Belongs” campaigns were an unmitigated success, and helped turn the tide of public opinion in the brewing industry’s favor. As beer historian Skilnik reflects, “It was one of the longest-running and successful ad campaigns. It was subtle, no T&A, very mainstream America.” A survey in the 1950s found that only one in five people didn’t like beer advertising and more than half of those surveyed “volunteered favorable comments on the beer advertising they had seen.”
By around 1960, their efforts paid off as the prohibitionists were finally beaten. It would be twenty years before neo-prohibitionists groups began gaining any traction again. In 1961, the USBF members voted to revert to the original name, the United States Brewers Association, which had been in existence since 1862, making it the second-oldest trade organization in our nation’s history.
Surveying all of the ads as a whole, several patterns emerge that must have been conscious decisions about what to portray and how. Every ad is mixed gender and the majority of them have an equal number of women and men. Every person in the ads is Caucasian and no minorities are shown. Most of the people shown would appear to be at least middle-class or above, and suburban. Based on their homes, the size of them and especially the spacious properties outdoors suggest some of the vignettes depicted are even of the upper class. Very few ads are just two people, the majority of them capture occasions and events where friends and family gather together to celebrate or enjoy leisure time together. There is no conflict in any of the ads, only beautiful, well-heeled people smiling and enjoying them selves. As such, the ads are very typical of the era.
In addition to their artistic beauty and being time capsules of their decade, the ads themselves contained several elements that were either repeated or were variations on a theme that differed slightly. Every ad contained the important message that “Beer Belongs,” either in shortened form or the full “In this friendly, freedom-loving land of ours—beer belongs… enjoy it!” Beer is also characterized in each ad as “America’s Beverage of Moderation.”
The first 75 ads, and a few afterwards, each contained a food pairing for the beer, which if appropriate, was connected to the storyline depicted in the ad. So if the illustration showed a fishing scene, the food pairing would show beer with a dish that included fish as the main entrée. Others included beer’s primary ingredients with illustrations of each. Other taglines included “The way it ‘goes with everything,’” “Beer and ale—mealtime favorites,” and “When you’re taking it easy—what makes a glass of beer taste so good?” Longer versions expanded on that theme with unabashed zeal.
In this home-loving land of ours… in this America of kindliness, of friendship, of good-humored tolerance… perhaps no beverages are more ‘at home’ on more occasions than good American beer and ale.”
While other ads drove home themes of freedom and patriotism.
For beer and ale are the kind of beverages Americans like. They belong―to pleasant living, to good fellowship, to sensible moderation. And our right to enjoy them, this too belongs―to our own American heritage of personal freedom.”
It’s been over fifty years since the last “Beer Belongs” ad ran extolling the many positive attributes that beer brings to our lives, many of which we often take for granted. The themes they explored of personal choice, of friendship, fellowship and family, of drinking responsibly and in moderation, and as a wonderful pairing with a variety of foods are the same ideas trumpeted today by America’s craft brewers. They’re just as relevant today as they were then, and if the “Home Life in America” ads can teach us anything, it’s that we need to constantly remind ourselves that beer really does belong, and we should all enjoy it with family and friends. And while we’re enjoying that beer, we should also surround ourselves with beautiful art. Beer and art, now that’s home life in America!
For the first time, at least in the digital era, all of the “Beer Belongs” ads may be viewed online, including information about each of the works of art. Visit All About Beer Magazine’s website at http://www.allaboutbeer.net for a link to the “Beer Belongs” gallery.
I would love to see the old ads — there are several in the magazine, and I was hoping to find more here on the website. I’ve tried searching for “Beer Belongs” and clicking each of the tags, but cannot find the gallery of beer-loving artwork.
My husband is a home brewer. I recently fell upon some of the ads from the Beer belongs series and have had 7 framed and are also hanging in our hallway. I was wondering if all of these ads were published only in Life magazine or if some were also published in other magazines of the time.