Gang Sign in WWII Philco Brag Ad

Gang Sign in WWII Philco Brag Ad, a photo by lee.ekstrom on Flickr.

Advertising during World War II could often be very strong. Ad agencies had to tread a thin line between promoting patriotism and the war effort and bald-faced braggadioco look-what-we-did promotion.

This boastful in-your-face brag ad was produced by J. Walter Thompson for the Philco Corporation. W.H. Crawford, the illustrator, used a reverse V sign as a severe insult to the enemy.

According to - the gesture was one step away from flipping the bird. The European community was familiar with the sign as it meant, "F#@? You", or "Up Yours."

According to historian Juliet Barker in her Book, Agincourt: Henry V and the Battle That Made England (2006), King Henry V included references to the french cutting off longbowman's fingers. The two-fingered salute, or "longbowman salute" was a jab at the French to show the English were still going strong.

I especially like Philco's pledge to soldiers of industry in the second paragraph, "More-Better-Sooner." Nice slogan.

Today the symbol is used my many on the web as a friendly or nice gang sign. For those who want to be cool, but not want to flash the wrong sign.

For more on the V sign and it's many meanings - visit Wiki.

Image approved for research purposes only. Part of the Duke Library Digital Collection - J. Walter Thompson Advertising Collection.

Gang Signs in Advertising

Where do you draw the line with gang signs and advertising? You can find some kind of symbol in almost any advertising using a hand. Take the successful Jeep Patriot campaign - a woman playfully pinches a wolf and drops it into her friends canoe. One could say that the pinch sign (see # 8 below) is used by some obscure gang somewhere that doesn't really matter. Should that gang sign limit creativity and stifle the Jeep campaign with its pinch the wolf theme? Of course not.

Sign of the times.

You’ve got to love Plaxo – they reminded me that a friend was getting older. Plaxo is hooked up with ecards – I linked out to see what I could send for free. One of the first free cards was of a hand sign. Innocuous enough, but it looked vaguely familiar. Then I remembered a training packet my wife brought home while teaching alternative education students some years ago.

The police had a training course put together with Michigan State University on gang symbols, colors and graffiti. Ever since then I’ve been wary of any talent using hand signs in our Jeep® advertising. When working at BBDO-Detroit I recommended steering away from a questionable hand gesture that was proposed for a print campaign. My feeling was it was better to be safe than sorry.

This ecards is the sign language symbol for love - it’s also used as a gang sign by the Almighty Latin King Nation – now known as “Latin Kings” or “Latin Kingz.” It’s been said that the Latin Kings have over 5,000 hand gestures in their “handabulary” (my own term). Who could have anticipated that obscure gang signs would have the far-reaching capacity to shut down expensive advertising campaigns?

The Virginia Department of Tourism ended up pulling a $400,000 “Live Passionately” campaign because of a seemingly innocuous image of a woman making a heart symbol with her hands. It turns out the sign is used by members of the Chicago-based Gangster Disciples gang. They were known for selling crack-cocaine and were featured in a book called “Freakonomics” – where a sociology grad student tagged along to learn the gang’s structure and business operations.

Is it time that corporate legal representation has to be familiar with gang signs to ensure that a campaign does not go awry? Let's hope reason will win out.