I know that propaganda was used in both World Wars, mainly on posters, as a way to not only get people to join the army but to also persuade people to pay and donate to troops. They often have absurd pictures but with a catchy phrase written on it to distract but to also be memorable. They are also directed towards the reader in order to make them feel as if the poster is talking directly about them.
2. Definition of propaganda:
Propaganda is the spreading of ideas, information, or rumors for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a case, or a person.
4. In the first image, the very first thing that catches my attention is the words children and die. The picture is very dark and has almost no color. However as you look toward the bottom, in bright red letters are the words: Buy more liberty Bonds. On the poster, there are two mothers. They look as if they are crying and pleading for help. There are also dead or injured babies in their hands. This caught my eye because of how sad it looked. Around the mothers and children is a town that looks like it has been raided because of all of the dishes and house supplies surrounding them. The next poster is a yellow poster that on the very top and bottom of it has the words: His Liberty Bond Paid for in Full. In the middle of the poster is a dead soldier who I assume has been killed in combat (because of the gun in his hands) laying on top of the rock. Underneath the dead soldier is a paragraph basically expelling how if you buy liberty bonds you will be saving more young lives. At the top of the last poster are words written in red letters: Remember Your First Thrill of American Liberty. At the bottom in blue letters are: Your Duty- Bay United States Government Bonds 2nd Liberty Loan of 1917. In the middle of the poster is a drawing of immigrants coming to New York City on a boat with Lady Liberty as their view. There is also a color scheme of red white and blue, even on the immigrants clothing.
5. The artists intention in the first poster was to make the audience feel sad and responsible for the sadness in the picture. In order to do this he focused on something as depressing as dead babies in order to promote Liberty Bonds. In the second poster, I feel that the artist is doing almost the exact same thing as in the first photo. I feel that the artist knows that people already feel sympathy towards young men who are at war fighting for their country. By making this the main focus point of the poster, it would make people feel sympathetic to the cause and feel as if they need to buy bonds in order to save the loves of many young people. I think that the authors intentions for the last poster was to bring up emotions about how coming to America felt to them. I think his intentions were also to make immigrants feel as if they were true Americans and that if they bought Liberty Bonds they would be helping Americans.
6. I think that in the first poster, the artists was trying to target a more family based audience such as mothers and fathers. I think this because the main focus was babies and in order to make someone feel bad about something the artist needed to add an element that would make people feel sympathy. In the second poster, the artist was trying to target an older audience. This is because the photo of the dead young person on the front was meant to make people feel very sad. Also, older people could have sons fighting in the war which could cause them to also have sympathy to the cause therefore they buy Liberty Bonds just as the poster suggests. In the last poster, the audience that the artist is trying to target is the people who have immigrated to the United States. This is because a lot of immigrant long to be like normal American citizens which means that they will do whatever it takes to feel apart of the nation.
7. How comfortable are you with the idea of the federal government spending tax dollars to create a propaganda campaign to convince you of something?
I do believe that it was a smart way of getting a point across, however I do not agree with the government spending tax dollars to do so. They are taking American's money only to force them to think a certain way and to not have a mind of their own.
8. Why do you think the federal government felt it was necessary to invest in producing propaganda posters during WWI?
I think that the federal government felt it was necessary to invest in propaganda posters during WWI because it was the easiest way to get a menage across a wide range of people a lot faster and more efficiently. Also I think that they did it in order to reach out to a wide range of audiences in a more relatable way. I also believe that the federal government invested in propaganda because it was a easy way to get everyone thinking the same way.
