I believe that propaganda is a great example for how the mind can be strongly affected by art. Art is directly words to the unconscious. One can see something that hits them on a deeper level than just seeing a picture. For example, the Nazi propaganda was a very thorough and simple brain washing technique that caused people to contribute to a catastrophe. Some knowingly and unknowingly, but either way the propaganda was a process of changing public opinion. I totally agree with the fact that the Nazis are the reason that propaganda gets such a bad rep but that just speaks to how powerful it can really be. I believe that all of the propaganda was openly bias and the way that it worked is by displaying something simple but meaning so much more. For example, the “I Want You” posters must have had a profound effect on the men who would see them. It made them feel as though they were singled out, and possibly weighed on their unconscious, causing them to make decisions that they would’ve possibly not made. Especially, when in the posters they made it seem as though war was a very romantic and heroic act to be a part of. You could draw that parallel to the movies about war that they have now. Pearl Harbor, the movie, makes war seem like it is a very heroic and romantic setting to be a part of, when killing is never something that should be romanticized.

Propaganda was a way to convince men to join the army or a way to get someone else to support the cause. The methods used in these types of propaganda had been: emasculating messages(towards men generally questioning their strength). The propaganda was used to shame men into something it made them feel somewhat obligated. A lot of military propaganda would use adventure and romance as what they wanted you to think would come along with that cause. But they never tell you the bad things that are occurring. The messages would even go as far as saying it was “your” patriotic duty to serve and protect your country. These propaganda posters had strong images that were meant to speak to “YOU”. Honestly for this time I felt these methods were very strong in their purpose. In this time period from what I believe is when the man was the head of the household and it was his duty to protect and care for his family so they used that in their propaganda. They lured people in and that’s the best way I can describe the purpose of propaganda. With how successful these posters were in their time I definitely believe that these methods are still used today in fact I know. Before I say this I have two brothers in the military and I support the military men and women with all my being. But for an example the military commercial are very glorified and make you look courageous, strong and unified which I believe is true but they definitely glorify battle.

Methods used for propaganda that we had learned about were emasculating messages like to question or weaken a man’s virility to shame men into going, using romance and adventure, telling them it is their patriotic duty, or direct appeal. I believe that some of these messages would still be effective today the only one that I believe would not work as well would be the romance and adventure factor and the shaming, just because of how exposed we are to war due to the media and today everyone sees death and suffering in war not adventure and romance and they have other duties besides going to war. Today they use the patriotic factor telling them be proud fight for your country and they always show how strong and tough they are in the commercials or posters. Our military today mostly uses the perks and money as their main form of propaganda in their posters and ads also.
During the war the allies and central powers had different forms of propaganda. The Allies used pride for the country, patriotism women trying to romanticize the subject as their main focus in the propaganda. They wanted the men to be excited to serve their country. They also used these to enlist nurses and for the purchase of bonds. The central powers tried to evope fear into the people with their posters.

Posters were often found in the cities of Europe. They were tightly controlled by the government so that the messages were just as likely to mislead viewers as to enlighten them. So,  during the first World War, there was a huge increase in posters to rally their own citizens to support the war effort. The European powers (specifically Britain) had the smallest army and they had the greatest need for volunteers in the War. That’s when they created literally millions of posters to help eventually recruit over 2.5 million British men to join the war.  This became a big shift in style (halt of the Art Nouveau). These posters displayed a more traditional, natural style for greater appeal to audiences.

One of the biggest methods that were used in these propaganda posters was the use of  emasculation. This is the questioning or weakening of a man’s virility. Which brings me to the well known poster “Daddy – what did you do in the great war?” – this was produced before conscription was introduced in 1916 and aimed to encourage men to join the armed forces through emotional blackmail. It was a method of “Bullying propaganda”.

I think these methods clearly worked well, specifically for Britain (2.5 mil joined war). So something was working. Do I think these methods are still being used today? I would say yes. I feel like young men in high school have these lectures to join the army as a sense of duty and honor of our country. I knew several of my classmates that signed up because they were poor and it would help pay for their education among many other benefits. I see these same propaganda elements used on the website and posters/campaigns (Army).

Propaganda posters used by the Central Powers were different compared to to the Allies.  The allies used a lot more realistic imagery, versus countries like Germany who used a more abstract sense of style. I think the abstract look was misunderstood which wasn’t as successful in recruitment, compared to the British. I believe the cultural differences were probably the reason why they were so different. Germany was somewhat violent/abrasive with their abstract style, while the Central Powers had more of a direct call to war using positive imagery.

This is the emasculating propaganda piece that encouraged men to join the war through blackmail. “Be a man and do it” – emasculating much?

This piece is more abstracted done by artist Ludwig Hohlwein, which is different compared to the Daddy poster above.

—

I was driving down the expressway and saw a billboard tonight that made me think of propaganda. Only YOU can prevent wildfires. Do you think this is propaganda? The bear with the pointing finger sure looks like it was inspired by the war posters of the past!

The methods that was showed that they used as propaganda was portraying war and the army as something that was exciting and they would travel the globe by showing men in navy or solider uniform smiling with bright blue sky in the background. Another method that was used was challenging a man’s masculinity by using women and children to do their part in the war wether it was joining the war or helping the war effort through bonds. I do feel that the methods that were used were effective to a point that it was able to trick a person into joining by deception. I don’t think the methods that was used in the past would as effective as it was in the past since people of today are more aware of how bad war actually is and we are more informed through the news and media. I do see that some propaganda that is used today are similar others that used joining the army as an honor and as to earn great respect in life. Also, today’s propaganda do tend to use family as way to draw people into join and using sympathy of army families to have others pay the governments.

This week was all about propaganda during the first World War. And I have to say that they used out of control methods to make men join the army. But then again, it was a war so who could blame them. They used some cigarette ads, some ‘We Want You’ quotes from generals, and mostly females to convince men to join the army.  I’d say that yes they worked when they used females, that would really have men volunteering just for the females. Just comes to show how simple minded men can be. Because they want the girl, ugh. I don’t see some of the methods used today, especially the female. It’s mostly the ‘We Want You’ stuff. Nowadays they use actual reasons why we should join the army.The Allies used actually people in the scenes of the war to show the reasons why men should join the army. The Central Powers used dragons and other characters to make the Allies look evil so they could fight and win. I’m not sure if it had to do with their culture or what. But the way the Central Power’s did their posters, they were creepy. Which is why I liked the Allies’ posters better. They were real convincing.

In the case of war time posters there were several main methods of propaganda: 1) emasculating messages that questioned or weaken a man’s virility;  2) shaming men into going to war; 3) using adventure, romance, the promise of a girl, or admiring children; 4)  sense of duty, and 5) demonizing the enemy.  I think the methods were quite effective as they did succeed in encouraging men to join the war. I also do think these methods are still effective today, but would the subject matter had to be adopted for a modern audience. For example, here is a modern ad for joining the war that appeals to a sense of duty:

US Army Ad

This method is clearly still useful today because we see it being used by the US Military still. Other elements used today in propaganda pieces are appealing to being a good father. The National Ad Council created materials for Fatherhood.org that appeal to men to be good fathers by designing ads that show men being good fathers:

www.fatherhood.org

The above poster reminds me of this from our lecture:

This piece appeals to being able to share with one’s children how heroic a father was before he became a father by participating in the war.

The biggest differences between the Allies propaganda and Central Powers propaganda is the types of emotions they evoked and the types of imagery used. Germany was much more violent and often too abstracted in their tone lacking a clear call to action. Allies posters appealed more to the perhaps more positive messages of love, duty, honor, and they also made a direct call to volunteer and go to war. Germany’s posters were also not as effective because often times they used more abstract design methods and the message was completely lost on the viewers and not as many people enlisted as did with the Allies. It is said that the number one reason Germany lost the war was because their posters couldn’t attract soldiers to their cause.

There are many methods to propaganda but probably one of the most powerful would be provoking emotions and next to that would be emasculating messages but also portray adventure. I feel like the methods are effective. Looking through the pictures made me think that the most effective ones would be the ones provoking emotions and making fun at the fact of the men aren’t man enough to go to war and also the ones provoking adventure and togetherness. Like the one shown:

As for today these methods would not fly. Simply because the media is so over EVERYTHING it would hard to lie to us about how great of an opportunity the war is and how great the  adventure is. The methods they would have to us to get people to go to the war would be very harsh? Provoke emotion at an extreme end of the spectrum. Almost violent to get people to step up and do what needs to get done, in my opinion.

For the propaganda for the Allies the images were more realistic figures and actually looked like people and were very warm and inviting as opposed to the Central Powers were more abstract figures and not a lot of color, which made them less welcoming and just confusing.

What is the point in propaganda? Simply put, it’s work that intends to promote or publicize a certain topic. It usually is used to help increase support for or against that topic. Some effective ways in using propaganda is by using guilt, making fake promises, or giving a cause to like or dislike the topic. People are asked, “Why are you not taking action against this horrible situation?” They are told that by doing this you can get fame, acknowledgement, and help save your country from anything. I think that these methods are pretty effective. They “attack” human emotions and empathy to promote the cause. During more popularized wars (WWI, WWII), propaganda saying, “What are you doing to help save your country?” could influence many people: the target audience leaning towards men than women(at the time).

I think that propaganda has not really changed much. The same methods are used in order to appeal or grab the attention of whoever the target audience is. The reasons behind these propaganda may be completely different, but they still attempt to attack the human emotion. I think that different countries will have different influences. For example, the iconic Uncle Sam probably won’t have the same effect on an enemy nation.