When World War II broke out in 1939, countries battling began using propaganda to keep citizens focused on strengthening the war effort. Many countries and their allies, including Great Britain, the United States, and China, used various platforms and techniques during the World War II period to spread propaganda to strengthen support for the war. One platform, Great Britain and its allies used to spread propaganda was posters. This article decodes the top-notch technique of posters that were used to spread propaganda during the World War II period.
Posters were mainly used to increase the morale among people, brainwash the citizens, render artists’ opinions concerning the war, and give the masses hope that better days were coming after the war. One such propaganda poster reads the slogan “Every minute counts! Early stopping will make a late victory” to target everyday factory workers persuasively. The message printed on the poster aimed to ignite fear in factory workers that if they stopped their work early and took breaks most often, the war would continue for a longer time. Therefore, targeting everyday workers was to influence them to work hard at the maximum potential they could to avoid late victory on the battlefield.
Another propaganda poster with persuasive use of language was “Women of Britain come into the factories” to persuade women so they would be more involved in factory work. Women, as the target audience of that poster, emphasized their role in the betterment of the country when the world had been through trying times during WWII. The poster features a female worker wearing a factory uniform with her arms wide open, giving an impression of victory through her manner that if women participate in the workforce, it will lead to victory for Great Britain in the war.
Another poster signifying the importance of patriotism among the people of Great Britain reads, “England expects national service” to persuade citizens to join the armed forces and also to promote nationalism in the country. It branches out to every citizen from every field of life, as portrayed in the colorful poster, that they should join the army and navy to strengthen the war efforts. The large statue of the soldier holding a shield and saber depicts the immense pride of the nation of Britain. Also, it emphasizes how people could fulfill the expectations of the government of Britain by joining the armed forces.
In conclusion, propaganda posters were one of the techniques countries battled on the battlefield during the WWII period used to draw Britishness among people and to spread the nostalgic message to the nations of allied countries to increase commitment to an allied victory.
