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M-O claimed that we
can divide official propaganda into two main types,
the first of which involved appeals for direct action,
dealing with practicalities, which would have an immediate
effect, such as giving up a saucepan for salvage.
The second type was more hypothetical, such as gas
mask campaigns, where it would not make any immediate
difference to the citizen whether he/she carried his/her
gas mask, but would simply be preparing him/her for
the coming crises. [Footnote 1]
Unlike in the First
World War, when the government had felt that those
at home should not ask questions, as they had not
truly been involved, in the Second World War, with
'total war', the entire population was fully involved.
The population needed to be made aware that their
actions had direct consequences upon the war effort,
and consequently needed far more understanding of
government policies; as warfare became more technologically
advanced, the armed forces depended proportionately
upon the organisational and industrial efforts of
those at home. The role of the civilian was crucial
in such a conflict, and they were "exhorted to think
of themselves as front-line troops" [Footnote 2].
There was
a vivid
awareness that the serviceman was a citizen in
uniform and the civilian ... was perforce another
kind of fighter. The list of reserved occupations
made explicit what was implicit: in cold military
terms the man who made the gun was as vital as
the man who fired it [Footnote 3]. ( Figure 31 )
We saw some
examples in the last chapter of the relationship between
the soldier and the worker, and we can also see in
the 'Dig on for Victory' poster ( Figure 32 ) the cheerful
English worker represented in a soldierly stance,
with a pitchfork held in the style of a rifle.
In 1914, the
best known British poster of the First World War,
Lord Kitchener declaring that 'Your Country Needs
You', ( Figure 1 ) was produced;
"From ten thousand hoardings the compelling finger
of Kitchener pointed straight to the passer-by. There
was no escaping it." [Footnote 4] It was much imitated,
and later "the public figure directly addressing the
viewer became a significant device" [Footnote 5].
The development of this direct appeal was important.
It meant that the passer-by would feel that he/she
was personally involved in any appeal as the poster
would engage directly with his/her eyes [Footnote
6].
One of the
most obvious copies of the Kitchener style is Bert
Thomas' 'Is Your Journey Really Necessary?', ( Figure 33
) produced by the Railway Executive Committee, making
use of an ordinary soldier, who could be anyone's
brother or friend, rather than an illustration of
someone in authority. This appears to have become
a characteristic of Second World War posters, with
the people asking each other to help out, rather than
those in charge asking, or producing guilt feelings,
although Churchill adopted the Kitchener stance in
Figure 34 which challenged
people to 'Deserve Victory'.
An M-O report
claimed there was a difference between 'You' and 'Your';
'You' was directed at the viewer and required action,
whilst 'Your' did not provide any stimulation to improve
[Footnote 7]. For instance, a campaign with the slogan
'COUGHS AND SNEEZES SPREAD DISEASES. TRAP THE GERMS
BY USING YOUR HANDKERCHIEF' ( Figure 35 ), which although
raising awareness of colds and 'flu, did not "produce
appreciable action" as people looked to the posters
as ways of avoiding colds themselves, rather than
the need to avoid giving colds to other people [Footnote
8].
Another instance
when people felt that the message did not apply to
themselves was on the August Bank Holiday, 1941. The
government had asked people to stay put, and whilst
most people felt that it was reasonable for the government
to do so, they did not feel that the request imposed
any duty upon themselves to do anything about it,
consequently record numbers of people took the trains
away that day, claiming that if it was essential that
they stayed at home, the government would have done
more than request [Footnote 9], as there is "no need
to plead when you can convince" [Footnote 10]. The
campaign was felt to be a waste as the government
worked against its own publicity by laying on extra
trains [Footnote 11]. M-O summed up a proper propaganda
technique as: "The need, plus the need understood,
plus instruction, simply stated, equals results."
[Footnote 12]
In many salvage posters
we can see the direct effect of contributing salvage,
although Figure 36 , along with
many other such posters, appears to over-do what could
be done with people's salvage, as three small piles
of salvage become shining piles of armoury, when much
of the salvage that was collected was not really economical.
A particularly first-class example which demonstrated
how ordinary objects could contribute to the war effort
is a poster by Fougasse ( Figure 37 ), which
show various objects of rubbish turning into useful
military objects.
Fougasse believed
that posters should not be too direct, that they should
leave something to the viewer to decide, and so flatter
their imagination; he believed that they would remember
the message better as they had taken part in decoding
the message [Footnote 13]. He used 'formula figures'
as he felt that photos depicted only one person, whilst
he believed that everyone could see themselves in
his illustrations [Footnote 14]. Fougasse believed
that the use of humour was important as realism states
a fact "if you do this it leads to that", whereas
humour suggested that if you "behave like this...".
He felt that realism often bordered on horror, and
did not induce people to look at a poster more than
once [Footnote 15]. Compare this with the Norman Wilkinson
poster 'A FEW CARELESS WORDS MAY END IN THIS', ( Figure 38 ) where a graphic
realistic picture showed the direct consequence of
discussing troop movements.
Another dramatic
depiction of the direct effect is 'They Talked...
this happened' series ( Figures 39 , 40 & 41 ) where one can see the
result of a few thoughtless words in the bottom half
of each poster, where, in a misty atmosphere, a sombre
image of wrecked military equipment is presented.
Having looked at
several of the ways in which the government stressed
the peoples' role generally, we will now look specifically
at some of the ways in which they used images of,
and appealed to, women.
Footnotes:
If you wish to cite from this page,
please use the following citation:
Lewis, R.M., 'Chapter 6: The Direct
Appeal in Posters, Undergraduate Thesis: The planning,
design and reception of British home front propaganda
posters of the Second World War', <http://www.ww2poster.co.uk/research_project/ugrad/dissdirectappeal.htm>,
written April 1997, accessed Enter Date Here
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International Relations
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Images for, and of, Women
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