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Social Science Media Studies

Gorgeous War

The Branding War between the Third Reich and the United States

by (author) Tim Blackmore

Publisher
Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Initial publish date
Oct 2019
Category
Media Studies, World War II, 20th Century
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781771124201
    Publish Date
    Oct 2019
    List Price
    $34.99
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781771124225
    Publish Date
    Oct 2019
    List Price
    $19.99
  • Downloadable audio file

    ISBN
    9781771125260
    Publish Date
    Jul 2021
    List Price
    $34.99

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Description

Gorgeous War argues that the Nazis used the swastika as part of a visually sophisticated propaganda program that was not only modernist but also the forerunner of contemporary brand identity. When the United States military tried to answer Nazi displays of graphic power, it failed. In the end the best graphic response to the Nazis was produced by the Walt Disney Company.
Using numerous examples of US and Nazi military heraldry, Gorgeous War compares the way the American and German militaries developed their graphic and textile design in the interwar period. The book shows how social and cultural design movements like modernism altered and were altered by both militaries. It also explores how nascent corporate culture and war production united to turn national brands like IBM, Coca-Cola, and Disney into multinational corporations that had learned lessons on propaganda and branding that were being tested during the Second World War.
What is the legacy of apparently toxic signs like the swastika?
The answer may not be what we hoped. Inheritors of the post-Second World War world increasingly struggle to find an escape from an intensely branded environment—to find a place in their lives that is free of advertising and propaganda. This book suggests that we look again at how it is our culture makes that struggle into an appealing Gorgeous War.

About the author

Tim Blackmore is a professor in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies, Western University, Ontario Canada. His previous book, War X was published in 2005. He has written extensively about war, war technology, and popular culture.

Tim Blackmore's profile page

Awards

  • Short-listed, Foreword INDIES (War & Military)

Editorial Reviews

Gorgeous War is a tour de force through the worlds of design and propaganda—both military and corporate—in the United States and Germany. Filled with fascinating details, the book makes creative connections between worlds that were (and are) more closely connected than they first appear

Alexander L. Fattal, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 2020

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