Propaganda Posters From Around The World

Martha Richardson and Zerrin Farbon

Background

• The posters created during World War Two did not dramatically differ or evolve from the design and messages of the posters from the First World War.

• However, mass communication methods had changed and audiences were increasingly reached through cinema and radio. Nevertheless the volume of posters created was still enormous, for example on America’s entry to the war the public were bombarded with images on an unprecedented scale

• The Office Of War Information distributed its major posters in runs of 1.5 million

• 100,000 images were posted in subways, streets and buses every month

Recuritment Posters

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Race Within Recruitment Posters: America

• Tensions were emerging between the idea of national unity and the reality of equality.

• This poster features heavyweight boxer and national hero Joe Louis

• His enrolment soon after Pearl Harbor and his highly public recruitment drives made him a key figure to ensure the black community was behind the war effort and young black men were enlisting.

• Many of the posters aimed at the black community were never effective, they just gave a vague call for racial unity in aid of the war, which angered the people, in both black and white communities, calling for increased equality in the highly segregated army

• Equally trouble was caused when recruitment posters emphasized inter-racial co-operation, this angered the pro segregation white army officers and politicians

Race Within Recruitment Posters: Europe

• Problems similar to America’s arose from European countries recruiting among their colonies.

• Countries such as France, Belgium, Germany and Britain have a long history of recruiting and conscripting people from Africa and Asia to military service. In effect an extension of forced labor, it is estimated that 300,000 Africans were killed during the First World War.

• The Second World War weekend Europe’s colonial power, not only through increased strain on resources in the empires. But also through national propaganda, especially the posters (which in less technologically advanced countries reached more people than radio or the cinema ever could), that inadvertently increased the political awareness among colonized people and helped strengthen their demands for independence.

• Anti German and anti Japanese propaganda used by France and Britain in their colonies attacked their enemies expansionist ideas. This heightened the awareness of anti-raciest politics and planted the idea of apposing foreign occupation through armed conflict in the minds of many African and Asian colonized populations.

Recruitment Of Woman• The recruitment posters for woman to sign

up to war work, conflicted with the ideal of woman portrayed in past propaganda, such as the First World War poster, featuring the slogan ‘woman of Britain say- go!’. It is this official image of woman- one of femininity and passiveness that so contradicted with woman's new role in war- one of active contribution.

• Many men were usurped by the new freedom woman possessed. Many of the woman who worked in factories and on farms, replacing the men who were at war, recall the hostile nature in which they were treated by male colleagues, who feared they’re roles would now be taken by women permanently, or wages would decrease to women's level.

• This problem was solved by highlighting the temporary nature of woman's war work, ‘for the duration’. This poster shows this by highlighting the distance between the woman and factory, and implies the woman’s femininity has not been diminished.

Targeting The Enemy

Stereotyping• Posters were produced by all countries

involved in the war. They confirmed the all ready ingrained xenophobia, depicting images of the loutish Tommy, cold German, brutish Russian.

• In this Italian poster the American armed forces are represented by a black solider. Its aim is to manipulate racial prejudice, and the exacerbate the view of the inferiority of American culture. In contrast with Italian classicism, shown by the Venus De Milo, American mass culture is shown as brutish and overbearing.

• It also shows the commonplace demonization of the enemy. In this poster the American solider is shown as a rapist. Rape not only in its literal sense, but rape as a metaphor for invasion of a country.

Woman: The ‘Enemy From Within’

• While woman were often depicted as the innocent victims of enemy aggression, as shown on the previous slide, they were also portrayed as the unwitting accomplice or willing traitor.

• In this British poster a blonde is surrounded by members of the armed forces. Her knowing look implies she might repeat pieces of military information.

• Although it doesn’t confirm if she is a spy or simply a gossip, her silk dress and ostentatious jewelry imply loose morals in an era of wartime austerity.

• Governments of all countries ran campaigns against careless talk, all though it was necessary to control military information it created a culture of unnecessary secrecy and surveillance- especially against woman.