WW1 Propaganda Posters "seriously lacking in nuance"

By George Dvorsky
via the Gizmodo.com web site

America’s involvement in the First World War was brief, but intense. For a period of 20 months, the government did its best to stir patriotic fervor, in part through the use of eye-catching propaganda posters. A new exhibit at Bruce Museum is showcasing a selection of these works, many of which are seriously lacking in nuance.

The new exhibit is called Patriotic Persuasion: American Posters of the First World War, and it features a selection of posters donated to the Bruce Museum by Beverly and John W. Watling III.

“I think World War I posters symbolize the merging of patriotism and advertising in the United States, and in many ways, serve as a precedent for our contemporary political propaganda,” Elizabeth D. Smith, Zvi Grunberg Resident Fellow at Bruce Museum, told Gizmodo.

“These images reveal the myriad of ways the U.S. government tried to influence its citizens’ wartime opinions and actions,” she said. “They seem to be hauntingly relevant, considering today’s media environment.”

No doubt, these old-timey posters were designed to persuade, leveraging various psychological techniques to drive the message home.

Images of attractive women beckon men to enlist, while a blindfolded sailor pleads for donations of spy-glasses and binoculars.

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