This Scot Tissue ad started running in the 1930s, towards the beginning of the Red Scare. The Red Scare was essentially the American fear that communist countries (mainly Soviet Russia) would bring their ideology to the United States and take over the treasured democratic government. Meanwhile in Soviet Russia, Joseph Stalin had been in power since the death of Vladimir Lenin in January of 1924. The Bolshevik party was still at large in Russia, but the ideology at the time was shifting towards a more global communism - that is, Russia did not need to stabilize before it tried to convert other countries to communism.
It was this Russian spirit of communist expansion that in part sparked the creation of the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1938. The HUAC's goal was to eliminate fascist and communist groups so that American democracy could be better protected. However, their policies quickly turned to profiling any and all Russian immigrants, as well as most Jews and anyone seen associating with people that might be guilty of communist thinking.
Suffice to say, racial profiling based on political fear is not a new practice in America. When this tissue ad was running, fear of communist takeover was coupled with a general fear of the impending war (World War II, which lasted from 1939-1945).
The Cold War, which was more like a series of proxy wars that the States fought against communist Russia, began soon after World War II, and would see the Red Scare and general anti-communist propaganda and paranoia gain much more traction.
I like the assertion that "this is no new practice." You are absolutely right. But I must say this would be an ideal place to compare kairotic moments. But I only see one text, which makes that concrete comparison impossible. Where is your second text?
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