Propaganda and Constructivism

In the following lecture we were introduced to Propaganda provoked through posters and it was quite interesting to view how emotions were bluntly exploited when up against war.

Steven Heller, an American art director, journalist, critic, author and editor wrote in one of his famous books, Iron Fists in 2011, "A popular brand of frozen food or detergent is not forced down the consumer's throat with an iron fist, (however), the design and marketing methods used to inculcate doctrine and guarantee consumption are fundamentally similar."

 

Leonard Doob, a cognitive and social psychologist defined propaganda as, "the attempt to affect the personalities and to control the behaviour of individuals to a desired end." The following posters were quite thought provoking as I witnessed first hand what blackmail could look like in the form of advertisement.

Lord Kitchener Wants You was a 1917 poster by Alfred Leete and was the first of it's kind which led to a trend of similar posters that followed the same style while recruiting for military. A sense of patriotic pride and giving a sense of responsibility to the audience whom at that time would of felt more than compelled to listen to words of the poster.

 

Further emotional exploitation continued when the family was included as a ploy with exaggerated connotations.