Humanities Propaganda Poster

Propaganda Project

Propaganda Poster:

Poster Analysis:

With Jesus as our general we will win

U.S. Army

            A) Religion, a very large influence on many people, played an effective roll in conducting a message in my poster.  My poster relays two messages to the viewer.  Those two messages are trying to indirectly recruit soldiers and just get the general support of the American public behind World War.  I say indirectly recruit because there is no slogan saying join the war.  Jesus, a very iconic person through out the world, is a very key point to my poster.  The poster makes it seem like that if Jesus is supervising the battles than no one will get hurt or killed.  Also, Jesus is a significant character in the world and the majority of the nation is of the Christian religion.  So many people connect the son of God and the U.S. Army and it makes them feel better about the war situation.  The techniques I used in my poster are testimonial and transfer.  I use the testimonial technique by Jesus endorsing the war.  People like the idea of Jesus backing the war so they back the war also.  I use the transfer technique because Jesus is a major icon in today’s society.  There are not many people who don't know who Jesus is, and most people like Jesus or at least how he is portrayed, so if one person that people like is behind the war it gives them a lot of confidence.

B) This fits into the historical content of World War 1 because it is mainly a recruiting poster, and at that time there were thousands of posters specifically made to recruit.  USA needed so many recruiting posters because they obviously needed more soldiers to fight.  The United States just did not have the sheer numbers as some of the other large countries, so they had to recruit more people to aid in the battle.  The United States joined the war mainly because politicians got fed up with the German’s launching unauthorized submarine attacks on a number of commercial vessels.  One in particular was the Lusitania, a vessel that sunk and killed about 130 Americans.  There were a few more events post and prior that dragged America into the war, but that was the turning point.  Although, the poster has a modern look to it people still believed in Jesus and he was a major part of their lives. I would say that during WW1 Jesus was more a part of their culture because people were more traditional and more country- religion oriented.  What I mean by this is that today people have all different religions in the same country.  Back than most people that lived in America were Christian.  According to, Adherents.com/ Christian Statistics, about 85% of the country was of the Christian religion.    With so many people using Jesus as their main directed person to worship, people would support the war if Jesus did to.

            C) Most people into today's modern society are influenced by propaganda very much with the exception of the people who do not watch TV or pay attention to the general media.  The people who are exposed to propaganda are very much influenced by it even if they do not realize it.  Most people are affected by propaganda on a subconscious level and they are influenced even when they think that it does not change their opinions or views.  I feel it is wrong to always be exposed to things whose main goal is to change us, but if someone really feels strongly about something then a commercial should not change their mind.  Ultimately, I think that propaganda is a bad thing for society.  I think it is bad because it is always trying to change people and I feel like the differences in the world are what makes such a special place.  Sure, not all propaganda is going to make everybody the same, but if the world has no diversity than there would be nothing new to learn.  Propaganda influence people more today than it did in World War 1 because of the amount that people are exposed to it.  In WW1 there were pretty much two ways to be exposed to propaganda, posters and word of mouth.  Today there are so many sources of exposure such as, TV, magazines, newspaper, internet, radio, music, and billboards.  A lot of commercials and ads shape today’s society with things like campaigns, products, and views on issues like the war.  A lot of conclusions and opinions are based on statements by other people.  It is things like propaganda that molds most of today’s modern world, but this is how the world has and always be.

Project Reflection:

            The whole propaganda project had many different steps to reach the final project.  There were two different parts to it, the actual propaganda poster and the poster analysis, although the poster was the main part of the project the analysis was important to reflect and realize what we learned.  To get ideas for the poster we studied many examples of propaganda from different periods of time but mostly from World War 1.  We analyzed the techniques that the propagandist used to influence the intended audience.  Then we applied those techniques and ideas to come up with ideas for our own projects.  To come up with my idea I thought of very iconic characters, and I came up with Jesus Christ.  Then I thought of how I could use Jesus in the roll of the Army, so I used the metaphor of Jesus as a general watching over the battle for safety.  After I had the main idea I drew it on a normal piece of paper, then I plugged it in to Photoshop.  After I finished the poster in Photoshop I did the poster analysis.  The analysis is just a reflection of the relevance of the poster and the techniques I used.  There was also a question about our own opinion on the effect of propaganda on today’s world.

            Throughout making the poster I made many revisions between drafts, such as making changes on Jesus and the soldiers. The biggest reasons I made these revisions were to get my point across more clearly and to make sure there was no question about the country of origin.  We did one formal revision, which was the peer revision.  For the peer revision we went to different posters and analyzed a few questions about the main point of the poster.  This critique helped me the most because I learned what the untrained eye concluded from the poster.  I learned if the message was clear and if it was effective.  Two specific revisions I made on the poster were, I put the soldiers in a battle and not just standing attentively looking at Jesus and I put an American flag flying off the cross behind Jesus.  I put the soldiers in battle to make it seem as Jesus was watching and protecting the soldiers as a general would.  It made it seem that if Jesus was watching over that no one would die or get hurt.  I put the American flag on the cross to make the viewer sure that Jesus was supporting America and not the opposing country.  Plus, the flag really pops out against the grey-blue background so it adds and American effect to the whole poster.  When I wrote the poster analysis I made a few critical revisions but the most important one I made was the evidence backing the effect of Jesus on the Christian religion.  Jesus was a major part in the effect of my poster and I thought giving evidence to support why was important to my analysis.

            This whole project was a very good time for me, especially creating the poster in Photoshop and coming up with the idea for the poster.  I had so much fun learning about Photoshop because I have always wanted learn how to alter pictures and do the amazing things that people do to pictures on the internet.  I had fun creating the idea for my poster I like learning about the physiological aspects behind commercials and propaganda.  I like to learn about how other people brains work and what makes people think how they do.  Plus, I always have fun playing with touchy subjects such as religion and war.  The parts I didn’t like were the poster analysis.  I didn’t like the analysis because I don’t really like to reflect on how I think and the parts didn’t do well on.  Although the reflections help us learn and grow as students I just do not like being criticized.  The part I enjoyed the most though was finishing the poster on Photoshop.  I enjoyed it so much because I have never used the program and to have my first project I have ever done turn out that good it was a great feeling.

            This project has taught me many lessons and ideas, but the main ones I have learned are about the techniques and mind sets behind propaganda and I also learned a lot about Photoshop.  We analyzed so much propaganda and looked at all of the different techniques that I learned a lot about how the propagandists relay their messages.  Before this project I had no idea how commercials and propaganda influenced my brain, but now I have a better understanding of the things that do influence me and how they do it.  Photoshop is a very complicated but useful program and before this class I had no recollection of how to use it, but now I can do the basics things to make a very beautiful project. 

            If I could do this project over again and change something I did or didn’t do, it would be go back and spellcheck my poster analysis.  I sent in one of the drafts un-spellchecked and it cost me dearly, it actually moved me to the very end of the list and it took me longer to get the revised draft back.