1924 Ford Motor Company Institutional Message Advertising Campaign, "For the People and Posterity"

In 1919, Henry Ford began buying vast amounts of forestland in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. These prime hardwood forests supplied the lumber used to create vehicle bodies and parts. Other products such as railroad ties, shipping containers and chemical byproducts were also made -- all to support Ford's automobile operations and his goal of manufacturing self-sufficiency.

Ford Motor Company sawmills created heaps of wood wastes. Some was used to produce steam for factory operations. The rest was carbonized and compressed into charcoal. Workers mixed charred hardwood chips with starch, forming nearly 100 tons of charcoal briquettes each day. Dealers sold branded barbecue accessories and packages of the popular briquettes in Ford dealerships across the country.

In 1924-25, Ford Motor Company ran a series of sixteen dramatic advertisements in the Saturday Evening Post and Country Gentleman magazines. More in the vein of public relations statements than advertising, the campaign was designed to increase public awareness of the company's wide-ranging activities and explain its overall mission, rather than promote the Model T specifically.