Implicit boycott: The call for patriotic consumption in interwar Austria

Abstract

In 1927 entrepreneurs’ associations and the Ministry ofTrade started the ‘Buy Austrian Goods’ working group, which deployed a broad array of propaganda activities. It was moulded after similar initiatives in other countries, above all the SwissWeek and the British Empire Marketing Board. As with Switzerland and the UK, Austria pursued a free trade policy. Protectionist measures seemed out of question, but an effort at educating consumers should help to overcome the endemic trade deficit. The working group emphasized the defensive nature of its propaganda, claiming not to instigate a boycott of foreign products. But neither the rhetoric nor the administrative measures promoted by the working group were always devoid of aggressiveness. Consumers were told to act as responsible citizens, to contribute to the reduction of unemployment by shopping Austrian.Yet, the appeal to state consciousness was thwarted by the ambivalent feelings towards a state that in the eyes of many Austrians was no viable alternative to unification with Germany.