The Container Goes Global

Objects of Knowledge

• Date:
  Wednesday, March 13, 2013
  
• Time:
  5:00 PM to 6:30 PM
• Organizer:
  Visual Studies Research Institute
• Campus:
  University Park Campus
• Venue:
  Doheny Memorial Library (DML)
• Room:
  DML G24, Herklotz Room
• Cost:
  Free with RSVP
• Email:
  vsgc@dornsife.usc.edu

Summary:

This paper argues that the 1944 United Nations advertising campaign with the Container Corporation of American positioned the company as a new kind of entity wherein business was wedded to modern art.

Description:

Graduate Student: MACKENZIE STEVENS

Department of Art History

Respondent: SARAH BANET-WEISER

Professor, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism

In 1944, the Container Corporation of America launched a bold, new advertising campaign featuring countries affiliated with the Allied forces. The “United Nations” series was meant to illuminate the company’s role as a facilitator of global enterprise during and after the war. This paper argues that the campaign not only marketed the Container Corporation as a global entity, but that it also positioned the company as a new kind of corporation wherein business was wedded to modern art.

Co-sponsored by the Sidney Harman Academy for Polymathic Study and the Visual Studies Research Institute.

Please reply by Sunday prior to the event to www.usc.edu/esvp and enter ESVP code GRAD0313.