Ford took office in August 1974 amidst one of the worst economic crises in US history, marked by high unemployment and inflation rising to 12.3% that year following the
1973 oil crisis. As Ford exhorted the nation to begin a "massive mobilization" he wore a red button with "WIN" on his breast pocket, a word which "tells it all" because "win we will". Ford offered identical pins for citizens who enlisted by mail as "Inflation Fighters". However, he had the only pin in existence at the time. Within a week, a slapdash group had been assembled, with employees pulled from various federal agencies, to manage the 80,000 pieces of mail, most of which were requests for WIN buttons. "WIN" buttons immediately became objects of ridicule. Retailers of "everything from used cars to pizza" quickly used the inflation message as a gimmick to drive sales, which encouraged increased consumer spending behavior instead of curbing it. A
McDonald's radio ad depicted a dad describing inflation followed by an announcer declaring a 50-cent kids’ special with a hamburger, fries, and a soft drink. When the dad asks "Well, son, how do’ you like fighting inflation?" he replies "It tastes good." Media memorialized as "one of the great fizzles of American history".
Alan Greenspan, as the Chairman of the
Council of Economic Advisors during the Ford administration, went along reluctantly with the "Whip Inflation Now" campaign, == Gallery ==