Guarding Vital Transportation Lines! Oldsmobile Service
A magazine advertisement shows an Oldsmobile service man in cap and bow tie saluting in front of an aerial view of rows of vehicles, under 'Guarding vital transportation lines!'. The tell is a military salute and 'Battle of Transportation' wording attached to car servicing (transfer), with 'your patriotic duty' and 'for your country' as virtue terms for a commercial service (glittering generalities). It is a commercial advertisement, not a government poster.
Propaganda techniques used in this advertisement
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Oldsmobile Dealers of America (private advertiser); magazine page, publisher not shown
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Advertisement
- Issuer type
- Corporation
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- Home front, Economy and finance
- Event
- World War II
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Held by NARA, Unrestricted; hosted by owner decision
Oldsmobile Dealers of America advertisement. National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-877b.
Text on the object
FOR VICTORY, BUY UNITED STATES WAR BONDS! GUARDING VITAL TRANSPORTATION LINES! THOUSANDS OF OLDSMOBILE SERVICE MECHANICS KEEP WATCHFUL CARE OVER CARS THAT CANNOT BE REPLACED IN a nation geared to a war-time tempo, transportation plays a vital role. [body text continues: ... your patriotic duty to keep that automobile in condition ... See him ... and save your car ... for yourself and for your country.] OLDSMOBILE SERVICE AND SERVICE FOR ALL MAKES OF CARS OLDSMOBILE DEALERS of AMERICA "IN SERVICE FOR THE NATION"
