ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the advertising efforts of the leading bus companies and the industry’s trade association, the National Association of Motor Bus Operators (NAMBO), between 1925 and 1950 and relates them to the performance of the industry during these years. The bus industry, which was providing local and regional services in the 1920s and offered a national service in the 1930s, was born into competition. Tourism presented a different and highly promising market for bus operators. For those Americans who were interested in recreation, advertisements were designed not only to appeal to their good sense, but also to appeal to their desires to enjoy their leisure in different places. The emergency of the Second World War had required many Americans to travel on overcrowded and uncomfortable buses. The advertisements of the leading companies in the late 1940s thus made strenuous efforts to make bus travel attractive again by asserting not only comfort but also luxury.
