S. Nagy Anikó - Babucsné Tóth Orsolya - Szoleczky Emese: Mindenütt hódít. Reklám a nagy háborúban (1914–1918) (Budapest, 2009)

"BOOHS TO THE FRONT" At the outbreak of the war the civilian press was brimming with military news and many papers brought out war annuals. Serving needs in time of war, field papers started to be published int he theatre of operations, in Hungarian or German, according to the command languages. Official military gazettes, name lists, various military almanacs, pocket books and calendars came out by the dozen. The demand for reading matter increased during the war. Book publishing offered high and low literature, charity albums and war almanacs. The events communicated by these means often echoed a propagandistic tone. Initiated in 1916; the "Books to the front" movement set out to "provide Hungarian soldiers on the front with reading matter," in particular around Christmas and Easter. Soldiers were often seen reading in the interludes between fighting. It is not surprising that a poster promoting the daily Az Est portrays a Hungarian soldier reading the paper by the camp fire. The wartime years saw an immense rise in the demand for paper. As the war became drawn out, like with other raw material, there were great shortages of paper, too. By the first days of 1918, newspaper paper stocks had been completely depleted. Hll!> Newspaper ads were there for the daily exchange of commodities. There were campaigns for disinfectants and healthcare products (spirit of salt in copious quantities], military equipment and even instruments for cheering up life on the front. Due to the growing shortage of raw materials, substitutes were being offered for everything until paper, too, started running out. However, advertisements will be advertisements - and optimistic at that - amid the most tragic events of war, in the spring of 1 91 8, they were selling peace badges.