Propaganda During the World Wars

PROPAGANDA WORLD WAR I & WORLD WAR II

TAMPERING

WITH

THE

HUMAN

WILL

From the beginning of time, mankind has created ways to sway the opinions of others.

Even today we continue to be visually manipulated through advertisements and election propaganda. Every brand, politician, and journalist is offering a different lifestyle for us to choose to believe in through the visual arts.

The word propaganda originates from the Latin stem propagand, meaning to convey a sense of “that which ought to be spread.”

Graphic design, art, and journalism was used as a weapon to dramatically manipulate people during the World Wars. From feminism to active soldiers, we see that there were a vast variety of issues that the government and designers attempted to influence.

A quote that I find best describes propaganda is from Words as Weapons: Propaganada in Britain and Germany during the First World War by Alice Marquis.

She sums it up like this, “Indeed, the word ‘propaganda’ itself rings pejoratively today, implying an intent to deceive, a straying from the path of objectivity, a tampering with the human will.”

World War I propaganda was used on a global scale. At this time, it was meant to promote hatred against the enemy, recruit, and was the first extensive use of posters for propaganda uses.

WORLD WAR I

Britain’s army was small and made up of professionals at the beginning of the war. There was much pressure on men to volunteer, but those with families were hesitant because they felt they were needed to provide at home. In the “Daddy, what did you do in the Great War?” poster, the men were encouraged to volunteer rather than stay home knowing that in the future their children would make them aware of their duty to their country that they ignored.

Men were not the only ones being targeted by propaganda, women were needed just as much on the home front. Nations were represented by women, for example “Britannia,” as you see on the left, who stood for morality, virtue, innocence, and justice. This began the changing of women’s roles in society, which would transform as a reaction to the war.

“Food Will Win the War” was a campaign that encouraged citizens to do their part and waste nothing. The conservation of wheat, corn, barley, meat, and vegetables was needed in order to assist famine in Europe and feed growing armies.

INTENT TO DECEIVE

During the second World War, we see the reestablishment of propaganda to influence citizens to enlist or contribute to the war efforts. They began to utilize new technologies to push propaganda through cinema, newsreels, and radio.

WORLD WAR II

In the second World War, one of the most lasting propaganda mantras in Britain comes from a campaign utilizing the catchphrase “Careless Talk Costs Lives.” To the right is an example of this campaign, showing two females chatting, with Hitler and Goering eves dropping on their conversation.

Some historical experts claim that the use of gas chambers in the Holocaust is an example of effective Allied propaganda campaign that could not be reined in after the war.

The “Loose Lips Might Sink Ships” poster was meant to prevent unguarded talk so that useful information would not leak to the enemy. The phrase came from the U.S. Office of War Information. This slogan originated under the “Careless Talk Costs Lives” campaign.

YOU NEVER KNOW WHO’S LISTENING

During World War II, nearly two million children were evacuated from their homes in the cities to protect them from bombings. This is referred to in history as “The Children’s War.” Children were on in ten of the deaths during a bombing in London, from 1940 to 1941.

The children were evacuated according to their social standing. The wealthier families were able to make their own arrangements and for the most part stay together, but those of lower classes were moved evacuated to the countryside.

About 1.9 million children gathered at rail stations in September unsure of where they were going and not knowing if they would be split up from their brothers and sisters.

The evacuation called “Operation Pied Piper,” moved the children out in three days. A teacher at a school said, “I have had few worse hours in my life than those I spent watching the school being taken off in drizzling rain and gathering gloom in those unknown villages, knowing I was powerless to do anything about it.”

EVACUATE THE CHILDREN

By JORDAN GEISERT