The text in the Lumley poster is set out as a question asked
by a child to a father which instantly makes it more personal and relatable to
fathers seeing the poster. Also the emphasis on the word ‘you’ makes it much
more direct and reminds of the famous General Kitchener poster with his finger
pointing directly at the viewer, picking men out to come forward and fight. The
question is talking about the Great War as a past event, even though the poster
was made during the war which implies that only good can come of participating
in this war, that those who fight will come home safe. The text in the ‘Uncle
Sam’s’ poster is much more recognisable as traditionally American, with the typically
Western font alongside the numerous American stereotypes in the poster such as;
the bald eagle and the excessive use of the American flag design, it provokes a
strong implication of American patriotism.
The purpose of the ‘Uncle Sam’s’ poster is to advertise an ‘Uncle
Sam’s Range’ cooker, though that is not immediately clear due to how much is
going on in the image, and with such a strong sense of patriotism one might
first think it is to do with fighting in the war or something similar. Certain
details such as the clock being set between 1776 and 1876, which counts 100
years of American independence alongside the globe holding a long list of
countries; Ireland, Italy, China with stereotypical food beneath each country,
which suggests that America has also been feeding the world for 100 years and
has done so with the use of ‘Uncle Sam’s’ cooker. The purpose of Lumley’s
poster is quite different as it is not an advertisement, rather a propaganda
poster persuading men to fight in the ‘Great War’. By including children in the
image it intends to make those who did not put themselves forward to fight,
feel guilty or embarrassed, but also put emphasis on how it is a noble and
respectable act to fight for your country. By having the children reading books
and playing with toy soldiers it implies that they would enjoy hearing stories
of the Great War, and would expect to hear them from their father. The fact
that the boy is playing with toy soldiers suggests that he too will eventually
put himself forward to fight when needed, also, the soldiers are dressed in the
uniform of the Buckingham Palace guards which emphasises the fact that by
fighting you are saving your country and your beloved queen, so pushing this
idea of patriotism.
The target audience for both posters are fairly similar;
both are aimed at middle or higher class men. This is evident in the ‘Uncle Sam’s’
poster from the way all the figures are dressed, the room they are dining in
and the fact they are being served by someone from a working class, suggests
that this cooker is not something everyone will be able to afford. Also, by
having the man at the centre of the image and the women in the background,
gaining much less attention it implies that men who buy this cooker will have a
vastly improved American lifestyle. The Lumley poster is aimed at men in a
higher class, which is evident from the well dressed fashion of the man in the
poster, but it is also aimed at fathers who do not want to seem cowardly or
embarrassed in front of their family, who are being persuaded to go to war for
noble reasons.
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