Shorpy Home Front Photos: Buy Coke and War Bonds

MARCH 21, 2017  BOTTLE UP: 1943.  Uncaptioned photograph, circa 1943  Photograph taken by OWI of a brick tower, probably in the Upper Midwest.  The tower has been repurposed to advertise for War Bonds and Coca-Cola.

Shorpy commentators quickly identified the tower as being in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the remnant of the 1886 Minneapolis Exposition Building.  The tower's final owner, Coca-Cola, tore the building down in 1940 to make room for a new bottling plant and left just the tower, which stood for a few more years.

The advertising features a huge bottle of Coca-Cola near the top of it.  Underneath it is a picture of a grave cross at a cemetery and the caption "This Man Gave a Life....  Will You Invest More Than 10% In War Bonds?"

Both the bottle and War Bond Ads appear on two of the sides, perhaps all four.

--GreGen