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Wednesday, Jan 16, 2013 4:24 PM UTC

Cheers: Prohibition era cartoons

A slide show marking the anniversary of the 18th Amendment SLIDE SHOW

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Topics: slideshow, Prohibition Era, Alcohol, Advertising, ,

Cheers: Prohibition era cartoons

On this day in 1919, the 18th Amendment, prohibiting the manufacture, transport and sale of “intoxicating liquors” won ratification from enough states to become law. Since they couldn’t drink (supposedly), people diverted themselves with ornate, hilarious campaigns for and against alcohol. Today, 94 years later, political and social ad campaigners can raise their glasses to those who had to live without.

Prohibition Era Vintage Ads

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  • From the first glass to the grave, you can become an alcoholic with nine easy steps in this 1846 "The Drunkard's Progress" lithograph: Step 1 - have a glass with a friend; Step 2 - maybe another glass to keep the cold out; Step 3 - was that glass too much?; Step 4 - drunk and riotous; Step 5 - a confirmed drunkard hanging out with companions; Step 6 - here comes poverty and disease; Step 7 - forsaken by friends (even your Facebook ones); Step 8 - desperation and ... of course crime; Step 9 - death by suicide
    Credit: Wikimedia Commons

  • "Who Does Not Love Wine, Wife and Song, Will be a fool for his lifelong!" This motto was the late 19th century's version of "Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. This 1873 ad campaign (with its reference to Strauss' "Wine Wife and Song Waltz") was meant to portray the hedonistic lifestyle of German-American immigrants in the eye of alcohol Prohibitionists.
    Credit: Wikimedia Commons

  • This "Water cure for brewery" campaign from 1902 mocks the attempts by the Anti-Saloon League and the Women's Christian Temperance Union to block the production and distribution of beer in Hawaii.
    Credit: Wikimedia Commons

  • Many decades before Christina Aguilera came up with her song "I'm a genie in a bottle, baby," the "genii of intolerance" played a key role in warning women against allying with the Prohibition movement.The 1915 ad pushed back against women's suffrage groups who, seeking momentum for their movement, joined hands with alcohol prohibitionists.
    Credit: Wikimedia Commons

  • The Ku Klux Klan came up with its own pro-Prohibition campaign from 1926, crowning themselves as "The Defender of the 18th Amendment."
    Credit: Wikimedia Commons

  • This 1874 ad, called "Woman's Holy War. Grand Charge on the Enemy's Works," represents the way Prohibitionist women aimed to present themselves as warriors against abusive husbands and the male-dominated society in general.
    Credit: Wikimedia Commons

  • "Dumping alcohol during Prohibition"
    This 1998 stamp was issued as part of the "Celebrate the Century" commemorative issue of the U.S. Post Office. Alcohol was prohibited in the nation for 14 years and marked a "Dry Era" of social change and political tension.
    Credit: Wikimedia Commons

  • A banner celebrating Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1932 victory and the end of Prohibition!
    Credit: Flickr/National Museum of American History

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