Propaganda essay

Elliott Saslow

Join the Army

For this project, I created an amazing poster that could be used during WWI as propaganda.  I created my poster with a few different propaganda techniques.  The first is flag waving.  The flag, a visual representation of red white and blue, blatantly promotes the army.  It signifies patriotism by subliminally showing a flag pattern.  The next technique I used is direct order.  My saying, “Join The Army”, directly states the message I am using the poster for. This allows the person looking at the poster to get the message very easily.  Finally, I use the technique of demonizing the enemy. The gorrilla, a very strong representation of the Germans, also pinpoints the enemy as something that they are not.  It makes the Germans look scarier and more like an animal than a human.  This makes the American public lack empathy for the Germans because they are seen as a very wicked enemy that is savage and evil.

If my poster was made during WWI, it would be used as a tool for propaganda.  I aimed at creating the effect of being scared of the Germans and still feeling that joining the army would be a heroic endevor.  Propagand during WWI was very important for a few reasons.  First of all the democratic societies had to make sure the majority of the population of their country supported the war.  The main way this was done was by using propaganda to promote different ideas.  It created the sense that the war was the way to go regardless of if it was the right approach.  The other use during the war was to purchase goods.  The economy needed to stay strong during the war so that the American families would stay healthy. War provided work which kept the economy stable.

It is tough for me to say whether or not propaganda affects me in my life today. I do not have cable tv or see tons of billboards everyday.  Even so, as a society on a whole, think that I see a ton of ads in my everyday life that affect me. On a whole scale, I think it affects us an immense amount.  In communist societies or dictatorships people are told what to think, and the people don’t speak out.  If they did there would be consequences, but they don’t nessecarily believe what they are told to believe.  In a democratic society, it is very important for the people in the society to agree with the elected officials.  Therefore in a democratic society the peoples’ mind must be used to the advatange of everyone. That is the reason propaganda is so potent in our society.  I made this connection through one of the challenge readings about how our society works through propaganda. 

One example showed in the reading of “Propaganda, American-style” was the Vietnam War.  The author searched deeply for a media source that said, “America Attacked the Vietnamese”  or that America showed agression towards the Vietnamese. This demonstrates that no one wanted the Americans to think that we were the instigaters, and even now, children are not taught that we attacked the Vietnamese despite the fact that we did.  This represents that our culture is making us believe what the elected representatives want. I think that propaganda is extremely prominent in our society with or without our knowledge.