The War Is Over-Courtesy of Wissotzky Tea

To Wissotzky & Co. of Tel Aviv, its own brew was a major weapon in the war against the Arabs. Or so it would seem from post-victory advertisements that the tea company has been running in Israeli newspapers. "The gallant fighters of the Tank Corps," explain the ads, "appreciate a good cup of tea as the most invigorating drink. That is why the designer of the famous British Centurion provided facilities for the crews to brew tea inside their tanks. A good soldier will endure every hardship, but he will not give up his glass of tea. Wissotzky Tea, of course."

Wissotzky was not the only company that sensed the commercial significance of war and victory. Newspapers, as a result, have been crammed with advertising. Tel Aviv's biggest department store, in a nice bit of understatement at the beginning of the war, advertised sales of "current needs"--muslin cloth to prevent windowpanes from shattering, schoolchildren's identity disks and first-aid kits. For anyone whose automobile had been requisitioned by the army, Hertz Rent A Car had a solution: "Give us a call."

Victory brought an outpouring of happier copy. "Capture the excitement of our victories," said one ad, "on Kodak colour film." Read another: "The Tiran Straits are open! And the export of C.D. Edible Oil resumed." A brewery ad pictured Israeli Actor Mike Burstein in uniform pouring a glass of "Beer --a drink to victory."

With the fighting over, copywriters have another job. The war cost Israel, by a preliminary Finance Ministry estimate, "several hundreds of millions of dollars" in mobilization costs, lost materiel, destruction of property and a three-week fall-off in production. To cover these costs and to build up foreign currency reserves, the country is depending in part on a stepped-up drive for tourists. Says Tourism Minister Meir de Shalit, "After repelling the planned Arab invasion of Israel, we are now preparing to welcome the friendly invasion of visitors from all parts of the world." Greece's Olympic Airways last week issued an invitation in an ad that showed a Boeing 707 draped with an olive branch and quoted Isaiah: ". . . and there shall be war no more."

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