On beer and shoes : The cost of national pavilions at interwar world’s fairs
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| Year of publication | 2019 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Description | The space of a world’s fair in its heyday contained a medley of national, colonial and commercial presentations. Pavilions or booths from General Motors to Heinz symbolised clear commercial aims of companies that treated the fairs as a great opportunity to advertise their products. At the same time, national and colonial pavilions often included large sections dedicated to individual companies which often contributed to the cost of the pavilions. In these cases, the division between commerce and promotion of a state was not so clear cut. This paper focuses on the role of manufacturers at interwar world’s fairs and their involvement in shaping a specific image of a nation or a state. It focuses particularly on two firms with their origins in the Czech speaking part of Austria Hungary: the Baťa shoe company and the Pilsner Urquell brewery who continued to thrive in Czechoslovakia after 1918 as well as worldwide. The latter became an indispensable part of restaurants in the Czechoslovak pavilions, selling its beer and image. Even though originally produced by a Bavarian brewer, the beer became closely linked with Czech identity. Founded on the basis of the Fordian philosophy of manufacture and care for employees, Baťa grew into a global empire of factories and whole towns in the interwar period. Due to intimate links with the government of Czechoslovakia, the company also found its way to world’s fairs as part of the Czechoslovak pavilions. I therefore argue that presence and financial involvement of these companies was one of the reasons why Czechoslovakia could be so active in participation at interwar world’s fairs, promoting its own identities and the companies it was associated with. At the same time, I point out that such relationships raise more general questions about the intimate links between state and business at world’s fairs. |
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