See 19 Vintage Magazine Ads That Capitalized on the End of World War II

  • Coca-Cola signs at a roadside store marked "For Colored," 1938.
    Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
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  • A man ponders a Coca-Cola ad in Columbus Circle in Manhattan during a heat wave in 1944.
    Marie Hansen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
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  • A Frenchman considers Coke's allure in 1950.
    Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
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  • A Coke truck makes its rounds in 1950 France.
    Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
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  • Coca-Cola is on sale at Jimmie's Trailer Camp on U.S. 1, outside of Washington, D.C., in 1938.
    Margaret Bourke-White—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
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  • A French Coca-Cola truck pauses on its route in 1950.
    Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
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  • A Coca-Cola road sign beckons on the Autobahn between Munich and Salzberg, Germany, 1947.
    Walter Sanders—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
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  • Coca-Cola throws shoulders for a space among competing brands in 1938.
    Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
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  • A Thai billboard makes a suggestion in 1950.
    Dmitri Kessel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
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  • A Coca-Cola sign at Anne's Sandwich Shop on Cape Cod, during the summer of 1946.
    Cornell Capa—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
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  • A drugstore boasts both Cokes for sale and the name of the then-first lady, Puerto Rico, 1943.
    THOMAS D. MCAVOY
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  • Boy selling Coca Cola from a roadside stand., 1936.
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By Lily Rothman

The Japanese surrender in World War II—which was promised on Aug. 14-15, 1945—ushered in a period of national upheaval in America. The nation’s major companies were eager to capitalize on the changed mood. As these ads that ran in TIME during those weeks show, everyone from office-supply companies to cigarette makers tried to use the news to tailor their pitches. They appealed to veterans looking for new stability, to housewives who had kept the home fires burning, or to businesses starting the process of converting back to a peacetime economy.

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Write to Lily Rothman at lily.rothman@time.com.

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