Image 1 ^^
Image 2 ^^
Image one is an advertisement for ‘The Uncle Sam Range’ (1876), the design was produced by Schumacher and Ettlinger, New York, who used Crude and exaggerated illustrations to emphasise the wealth and importance of America. The second image is a Propaganda poster by Savile Lumley, from 1915 (one year after the first world war began), the purpose of the piece is to pressurise British men into going to war. The illustration is very characterised and the emphasised eye contact between the man and us (the audience) leaves the public with a questioning mind about what ‘they’ can do for the war. In the first image the bold and large type is very over powering and the use of gold, as well as a westernised cowboy font represents when the gold rush which started in Western America. The image uses fonts and colours similar to other posters, which represent the ‘American dream’ and ‘land of the free’. This is a classical style from this era, and this region. The font that has been used in image two has a very innocent appearance and feel towards it. The main focus here is on the word ‘you’, which has been exaggerated by capitalisation and underlining. This interacts with the target audience and engages with them. The theme then follows on to the Propaganda ‘I want YOU’ (Uncle Sam’s - 1917) posters. This focus and communication with their target audience is very powerful and impacting.
Although both images have an equal focus on national symbolism (patriotism), with the red rose curtains and fleur de lie (royal symbol) on the couch in image two, as well as the dominant use of red white and blue in image one, they also have many differences including their target audience. Images one is primarily targeted at middle to upper class citizens with money who can afford a ‘state of the art’ range cooker, whilst image two is focused heavily on men who could go to war and fight for their country. Both images represent a strong focus on ‘gender roles’. Image one clearly shows that the man has full control as he dominates the poster and becomes the focal point of the piece. Image two also has the same focus on gender roles as it was traditionally considered that the ‘man’ of the house would go to war and fight for his country whilst the children and wife stayed at home. At this time gender roles were not considered as ‘sexist’ but primarily they were socially accepted. However despite the fact that gender roles were socially accepted and not considered as sexist, image one does reflect other types of other prejudice ideas looking into racism. The design is ‘mocking’ Africa and this is emphasised through the symbolism of the world and how a ‘characterised’ face has been used on the blow up earth, where Africa should be. Unlike the first image, image two comes across very innocent, with the classic family lifestyle being portrayed to makes the audience feel familiar with the scene, whereas image one (although it is a typical middle class American family scene) it is very Crude and exaggerated, however both successfully communicate their key factors to the audience through strong visuals.
537 words.
