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Image 15 (film)

White Ammunition

In this film, Borden's transformed the wholesomeness of milk — a topic typically reserved for home economics classes — into a masculine substance central to national defense. Milk was placed in the context of soldiers, war equipment, scientists in lab coats and complex machinery designed to sanitize, pasteurize and bottle milk. The male narrator described the bottles in the automated filling machine as “an army of glass soldiers lining up... to receive their quota of white ammunition.“

This promotional film presented an intentional muddling of advertising, wartime propaganda and entertainment, which many feared did little to inform the public and instead, encouraged the public to become more reliant on the manipulation of images and symbols.

Film produced by Blake (B.K.) Inc. for Borden's Farm Products, c.1942.

Source:
Prelinger Film Archives, Internet Archive

Above: stills from Dairy Industry promotional film White Ammunition.
Play film below (run time: 24:06).