As the Twig is Bent...
Artist
L.W.
Datec. 1950
MediumOffset Lithograph
Dimensions19 1/2 x 12 3/4 in. (49.5 x 32.4 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LinePoster House Permanent Collection
Object numberPH.5677
DescriptionThis poster is one in a pair issued by the National Dairy Council. The two posters share a tagline but this one shows a cheerful Black boy seen drinking milk over his books at the table; the other shows a young Black girl. Such publicity campaigns significantly increased milk consumption by associating daily rituals of milk drinking like these with the kind of productive, conservative, wholesome affluence that represented a popular ideal in postwar America. This trend was reinforced in 1954, not long after these posters were released, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture introduced the School Milk Program, providing subsidized and free milk to children in schools and at other eligible locations. The aim was to promote the tenets of its own dietary guidelines and to bolster the profits of the dairy industry, a somewhat conflicting agenda. Children of color, like the ones seen here, are only occasionally represented in such posters during this decade.On View
Not on view
