Getting People to Wish What They Need: How the United States Government Used Public Relations Strategies to Communicate Food Policy During World War II, 1941-1945

This thesis examines how the United States federal government used public relations to improve the diets of everyday Americans during World War II. The government invested in several years of research, led by Margaret Mead, to understand the competing forces that influence dietary habits, choice, and folkways. Information about healthy eating was distributed to media and food companies along with other messages about rationing restrictions and compliance. A vestige of that time that still exists today is the USDA's Recommended Dietary Allowances. This study examines cookbooks, newspaper and magazine articles as examples of how nutrition information was presented. The study finds that the government chose not to prioritize nutrition messages as part of their overall PR strategy, but the messages were embraced by private industry and integrated into promotional materials. The addition of this story to public relations history challenges current PR histories as it demonstrates a comprehensive campaign that integrated research, planning, implementation, and evaluation of those efforts.

Name thesis:degree_name

MA

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Communication

Department dc:contributor.department

Communication

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Author dc:creator

• Purcell, Laura

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Myers, Marcus Cayce

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Tedesco, John C.
• Waggenspack, Beth M.

• public relations
• World War II
• food
• policy

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:15764

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/96196