Sunday, July 6, 2008

Abraham Lincoln wasn't the very first, but this 1860 flag-as-campaign-poster (bottom) is an early example of candidates' plastering their messages directly on the flag itself. William McKinley didn't go quite so far in his ad (right), though the Stars and Stripes did have a starring role.

But what sells a voter on a candidate could just as easily sell booze or "breakfast bacon," as in this late 19th century ad (center). Since then, images of the flag have adorned advertisements for a wide range of products, including baking powder, bicycles, beer, cigarettes, corned beef, toilet paper, tobacco, window shades and whiskey barrels.

And why not? As one late-19th-century reference book for advertisers put it, flags "are admirably adapted to all purposes of heraldic display and their rich, glowing colors appeal to feelings of patriotism and win purchasers of the merchandise to which they are affixed."