Maybe it's because I poke around the Internet at weird hours and such things amuse me more then than they might otherwise, but I had a little chuckle toward the end of this paragraph:
The sole aim of the National War Garden Commission was to arouse the patriots of America to the importance of putting all idle land to work, to teach them how to do it, and to educate them to conserve by canning and drying all food they could not use while fresh. The idea of the "city farmer" came into being. In every part of the country were communities where land and labor were already together, were it would be necessary to move neither the mountain nor Mahomet. Near every city were vacant lots, "slacker lands," useless as the human loafer, to whom, perhaps, Mahomet must be brought. [emphasis mine]
Note that across the page from this text is an image of a vegetable garden with the label "No Slacker Land Here."
Forgive my Gen X-centrism (and no respect meant to the late Mr. Pack!), but this just seems so quirky a phrase--"slacker lands"--and loaded with pop-culture humor as to have some potential in the VG revival. No, I'm not kidding, either. Ever seen Slacker? (I was living in Austin at the time it was made, so the film is like taking a trip through time for me. I do, however, stop short of being able to quote it easily; there are those who can do so.) The movie had a cult following...it reintroduced the word "slacker" to a generation or two. It's also widely credited with launching the indie film movement, having nearly one Sundance. Proof of Slacker's relevance to my generation? Salon did a multi-page interview with director Richard Linklater on the film's fifteenth anniversary.
Years ago, a government agency (I forget which one, unfortunately) had a series of advertisements that used pop cultural references to appeal to seniors, hoping to motivate them to get health checkups for certain illnesses or something like that. We ripped off the idea in my college career advising office in the late '90s and created flyers for then-early 20 somethings..."Remember Screech and the Saved by the Bell gang? Then it's time to think seriously about your career!" At the bottom of the page was our contact information. That was it. Lo and behold, within a day or two of the flyers being posted, we saw a two-fold increase in office traffic.
People like for you to reach out to them with their language...their cultural experiences. That's certainly what the WWI and WWII era VG posters did in their time period.
It's time to do that again.
Imagine a grassroots VG poster revival that targeted various demographics with similar references, encouraging folks to get involved. For my age group, just as an example, an imaginative artist could riff on "No Slacker Lands Here" notion and pair it with the '90s movie references/motifs. I can't get a visual on it...but I just know there's someone out there who could make it work.
Other ideas along these lines, maybe targeting other demographics? I'd also thought that regionally themed posters, shirts, buttons and commercials could work ("Yup, I'm Fixin' to Mess with This Here Dirt.")
And for what it's worth, Mr. Park would agree with my demographic-oriented campaign notion. In his words, again from the book cited above, "Only publicity, only continual preachment, could convince the public" of gardening's value and necessity (and, especially for him, American's patriotic duty) in the face of adversity. Indeed, Park openly valued the power of posters and bulletin boards in spreading the VG (then war garden) word. Betcha he'd a blogged, too, if he'd had the chance.
For Further Exploration:
• Darling buttons designs are already in place...if you just can't wait...from You Grow Girl.
• Having just purchased something from Victory Garden of Tomorrow...well, I have to say that I'm very satisfied with these posters. Check 'em out.
Above image is in the public domain. This image provided
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