World War II Propaganda Poster
The poster I made was a propaganda poster that would be used in hopes of recruiting more soldiers. In this case I have used my poster to go mainly against the Nazi’s, but I added a little bit against the Japanese as well. Within the poster itself you are able to see a nasty green hand with a swastika on top of it. I also included four hands breaking apart the swastika, and lastly I have portrayed the Japanese and their evils within a sort of scythe. This is what is mainly seen, apart from the slogan itself and the evil eyes in the background. As you can see, I used Demonization in this poster. This can be seen in the way Hitler’s hand was drawn. It is a nasty green color, with long yellow nails in which way giving it the looks of, perhaps, being a zombie or simply un-human. When it comes to the Japanese, I have represented them within the scythe. This was supposed to be a scythe just like the one of the grim reaper, but I decided in the end to make it look more like a skeleton hand as opposed to just having a long rod as is typically seen. The last factors used were the evil-looking eyes. I added Hitler’s mustache and comb-over so that he could be identified. In this way effectively showing how evil he is. The next tool I was able to use was name-calling. By saying, “Help get rid of those filthy Huns!” I am, in a sense, degrading the German army. I also used “Eliminate the yellows from the rainbow.” By doing so, I am not only making fun of them, but even adding a little humor to the situation. I think this is somewhat funny because I can imagine them super dirty and begging for mercy and as for the Japanese it simply reminds me of some leprechauns with a huge eraser. The third tool I used was a “catchy” slogan. My slogan was “We may seem useless alone, but all together we can make a difference. Help get rid of those filthy Huns! Eliminate the yellows from the rainbow. Do your part, join now!” I myself think that this slogan is actually pretty good, but the only “catchy” part would be the first sentence, “We may seem useless alone, but all together we can make a difference.” This is something that I have seen as very inspirational, because like it says, all together we can make a difference, the more the merrier. The fourth and fifth tools, as you can see, were evocatively visual symbols and some patriotic appeal; since they do go hand in hand in this case. The ripping apart of the swastika itself, appeals to the pride of the people. By seeing that, you just feel really good. It shows that we do have power, and that together we can defeat anybody. It is a very dramatic scene and for anybody that lived through that era, this would be very important for them. Overall, I would rate this poster a 5 out of 10. My reason being that I personally think I could have done better. If this poster was to be put out on the streets and a young man saw it, I really think that they probably would just walk away without any concern or desire to join the armed forces. I do like how the picture itself is because I cannot draw, so doing this was actually sort of difficult for me. I tried my best, so I hope this poster was not a waste of your valuable time…