Use of Posters in World War I
Posters were a popular medium that the US government used to communicate World War I efforts, including rallying Americans to support the US army to win the war. A key feature in these campaigns was the use of propaganda such that the information presented to the public was often biased and misleading. Everything was only given from one perspective and one source, and the ability to distinguish truth from fiction was virtually impossible. However, despite this misinformation, it was quite effective in persuading the people to enlist into the army and give financial support to the government’s war efforts by purchasing bonds. The Creel committee opted for the use of posters as opposed to print media owing to the ease of reproducing them. They could even be easily reprinted in several languages. The posters were also visually appealing and could get the attention of the targeted audience, besides the fact that the messages they contained were brief and catchy, making them quite an effective tool for persuading the people. Most people, even now, can resonate well with the illustrations of characters like “the Hun” and “Uncle Sam.”
There is a distinct difference in the posters circulated during World War I and those in circulation during the Spanish-American War. The main distinction is with reference to gender inclusion into a critical political matter. In the Spanish-American war, the posters took a racist angle to portray the enemy as darker-skinned and uncivilized, a significant theme that fueled slavery in the antebellum South. In contrast, white America was portrayed as strong, invincible, and civilized. In addition, the posters also sold the propaganda that Britain was in support of the Spaniards and the black slaves and if the white population did not take action, their country would go back into the hands of England, something that would have been highly persuasive to the citizens to support the war efforts. By the early 20th century, huge strides had been made in the area of social activism and political reforms. Slavery had been abolished, and black people were included in the political and economic institutions in the government, albeit at a slow rate. Women were also needed to serve in the war efforts of the second world war as medics, nurses, ammunition workers, which were critical to the success of the war.
World War I campaigns would use the endearing term “the Hun” to refer to the ordinary American woman who is willing to serve in the US army. Some slogans like “Hun or Home” can be viewed as offensive by today’s standards, but they represented a jump from the view that the woman’s place was in the kitchen raising children. As such, such messages represented progressive ideas of more gender inclusion into political and economic activities in the country. Some posters would even patriarchal slogans like “Be A Man and Do It” as used by the US Navy to recruit women into its service. For the older women, they would be persuaded to support the war efforts through slogans like “Women! Help America’s Sons Win the War,” to get them to buy into the government bond in supply as a way to finance the war efforts. As such, the young women of World War One paved the way for other women even after the war ended, who took on new roles and new leadership in American society.