It's the American Way

Why, I seen han'bills how they need folks to pick fruit, an' good wages. Why, jus' think how it's gonna be, under them shady trees apickin' fruit an' takin' a bite ever' once in a while. Why, hell, they don't care how much you eat 'cause they got so much. An' with them good wages, maybe a fella can get hisself a little piece a land an' work out for extra cash. Why, hell, in a couple years I bet a fella could have a place of his own. - Wilson 

This is jus' one little part a California. Why, that's the secon' biggest State we got. S'pose they did get all them eight hunderd. They's plenty places else. I rather pick fruit anyways. Like you says, under them trees an' pickin' fruit—why, even the kids'd like to do that. - Pa Joad (99 e-text)

Although this billboard doesn't promote a particular farm or job opportunity, it does reflect how advertisers wanted to promote the ideal of the "American Dream". Like the other media found in this collection, this Billboard attempts to inspire hope. "Opportunity" is at the front and center of the piece.

While there's nothing that specifically relates to the West Coast, its placement along the road to California, and its source - the National Association of Manufacturers, suggests that industry wanted migrants workers to see symbols that might compel them to continue on their journey.

As Kristine Yee notes in her essay, "John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath: A Call to Action", "the Joads are drawn to the West Coast through ... propaganda given to them touting an abundance of jobs and a new beginning living the “American dream.” As mentioned, much of the Joad's discussion of California involves modest, but hopeful fantasy. Steinbeck includes versions of optimistic daydreaming throughout the novel, from the heartwarming visions Wilson and Pa Joad provide above, to the idealistic ramblings Rose of Sharon regales her family with. Even though Ma understands that the latter musings are "all a dream" (110, e-text), the idea of finding fortune from poverty, nothing from something, is a factor that permeates the narrative.

While it's tremendously sad that characters with such tempered expectations, characters who "don't want nothin' fancy" (109, e-text), reach a destination ultimately more bleak than where they began - it is even sadder that advertisements like the one we see above take advantage of idealism. This artifact is indeed, a form of "propaganda" - inspiring hope to migrants who will likely never taste the American Dream they were sold on.