Signs

In the postwar era, people liked their signs BIG. There were 30 foot tall donuts, enormous statues holding tires or carpet or buckets of chicken - giant buckets of chicken, for that matter. Huge clowns pushing alcoholic beverages. The Golden Arches started off as actual arches across buildings and the original Bobs Big Boy sign is 70 feet tall - these for hamburger restaurants. Presumably there was a reason this outsized advertisement became popular - and cost effective, one hopes. What might have gone into the economic calculation?

First, it should be acknowledged that the same explanation might not hold for all. The first of the Muffler Men was in 1962, while Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank was built in 1949. They may seem symbolic of the First Turning because they are so big and noticeable, rather than truly being ubiquitous at the time. And several of these examples had predecessors from well before the war. 

Caveats aside, we can note that these are all intended as advertising, with size implying easy visibility from a distance. In the post-war car culture, it also meant that the sign could be seen for a longer time while someone was driving past in a car, and by more people who might not be driving directly by. Branding was likely weakened by the extended wartime allocation of resources away from consumer goods. This meant that smaller shops and chains had an opportunity to increase sales by using more obvious advertising. Further, these signs could have worked to signal better quality - if a firm was successful enough to have a big sign, they must make money and so have good products. Perhaps, too, there was the belief in American superiority, supported by the American victory, that encouraged being the best and biggest whenever possible.