Propaganda Posters

1. I learned about propaganda from History classes and just learning about it in school.
2. According to dictionary.com, propaganda is information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc. 
3. In my first propaganda poster, my eyes are immediately drawn to the man carrying his luggage. He is dressed in the Navy uniform carrying all of his luggage and it looks like he packed all of his stuff and left to join the navy, without thinking twice and with a smile on his face . My eyes are drawn to the words, "A Wonderful Opportunity For YOU" above the man. The poster is luring in men by saying it would be a wonderful opportunity for them to join the Navy. And it's more personal when it says "A Wonderful Opportunity For YOU" instead of just a wonderful opportunity. In the background, the picture is of one massive boat and some smaller ones around it. This shows luxury a bit, and how you get to live and be on a big boat and have fun on it. The boat is sailing off into, what seems like, the sunset, so it's very sweet and happy feeling. I think the author was targeting young men and wanted to get the message across that young men should join the navy because its fun and exciting, and also its very happy and relaxing. 
4. My next picture was of cannons being fired. My eyes are immediately drawn to one of the three men working on the cannon. there are two with their back to us, but one of the three is facing us and he looks very manly and bulky. His face is very stern to show how manly and serious he is. My eyes float to the words on the top. The first few words I see are, "LEARN TO MAKE AND TEST THE BIG GUNS". If you keep on reading the poster, it ends up rhyming. Also, the  "in the" and "USA" are in italics to stand out a little but not be the biggest point of the poster. The illustrator who made the poster was intentionally wanting the italicized words to stand out a little because they wanted to show that you can do all of this for your country. I think the idea of the poster was to show that you can become just like the guys working on the cannons, big and bulky and strong, if you join the Military. I think the targeted audience is young men. 
5. My last propaganda picture is of two men, one in a white sailors outfit, another in a suit, and then a woman behind them dressed in American attire. Immediately my eyes are drawn to the woman above the two men. She has a provocative look about her. She is showing a lot of skin for that time, and holding an American flag. The illustrator is luring in young men with the woman to get them to join the Navy. The poster kind of says that women will love a man if he is in the Navy and she loves her country so if a man fights for it then she will love you even more. The men under the woman, are there to show that even the privileged can join the Navy. 
6. I don't mind the government spending tax dollars on propaganda posters because they are there to get people to sign up to support our country so if it is beneficial for our country then I believe that there isn't any harm in it. 
7. It was important for the federal government to invest in propaganda posters during WWI because they needed the help in their Navy and Military and were unable to seek out help any other ways. 

My posters