Poster Art aka Propaganda

Docent Art Program, Cathleen Drinan, Director
Presented: Halifax Elementary School, Halifax, MA
April, 2009

Paintings discussed
Motocycles Comiot by Theophile Steinlen, 1889
Job by Alphonse Mucha, 1898
Poster, January 18 to February12, By Ben Shahn, around 1930

Poster Art
(aka Advertising or Propaganda)


We are so inundated with advertising that we take it for granted as the background of our existence and we may not realize its effect on us. We may even think that we are immune to its influence; that we are too savvy for that trick. We also may have certain beliefs regarding the types of information surrounding us. We may believe that advertising is part of the American way of life and that it can be so entertaining, that its absence is difficult to imagine. Just look at all the hype around the Super Bowl half-time commercials! The word, “propaganda”, however, conjures up ideas and feelings associated with falsehood-telling countries considered to be our enemy. However, believe it or not, all advertising is a form of propaganda. The dictionary defines propaganda as “A systematic effort to persuade a body of people to support or adopt a particular opinion, attitude, or course of action. Any selection of facts, ideas, or allegations forming the basis of such as effort.” With this definition in mind, even health promotion articles and fact sheets, which aim to disseminate beneficial, scientific facts, are a form of propaganda. Rarely do people use the word in this context. Last fall, in my Board of Health office, a man from the Mosquito Control Program and I were talking about the West Nile virus and the importance of avoiding all forms of containers holding water, as the mosquito which spreads the virus is dependent on small containers for breeding. Looking ahead to next spring’s efforts to prevent the disease, he said, “Propaganda, that is all you can do. Get that propaganda out there.” I was surprised but did not disagree with his word choice. The word, then, is neutral. It can be used to beneficial ends or evil ones and all sorts of selfish uses in between. If we can help the students to be aware of the message and to develop an awareness of the purpose, they can be informed citizens making informed decisions. That is what this unit is about: awareness and making informed decisions. Aim at actively coordinating our eyes and our minds to achieve this awareness. We try to discover two things. What do the posters want us to think? What do they want us to buy or do? Our posters are commercials or advertisements on paper.

The posters discussed in this unit date from the turn of the last century. They advertise products, lifestyles and an event. Let’s talk about advertising for a minute. (You know I like to interview the class for a couple minutes.) What do you think about advertising, the kind you see in magazines, on billboards, on TV and popping up on the computer? How does it work? What is the goal? What are the advertisers trying to do? (If they say anything such as “sell us something” or “get our attention” or “entertain us”, they are right on target and will see similarities in the art we view this month.)

Advertising is a form of propaganda. Propaganda is spreading the word about something. To make the idea spread quickly and to make the idea stick, the artists and writers use certain techniques. You can write the categories on the board and let the children spot the techniques.

Here are some of the techniques:

Visibility:

Something must grab your attention. The artists and writers want you to see their poster or magazine page more than someone else’s poster. How do they do that? Some things you can look for are:

• Color
• Contrast
• Bold words
• Exciting content
• Humor
• Shock value
• Different, unique
• Anything else?

Message:

The advertising has a message.
If the writers and artists think the people will like the idea, then they can tell it like it is.
If they think the people will not like the message or might even hesitate (too different, too costly, not their style, etc.) then they will try to:

• Disguise it.
• Ignore it. They can skip the message and just make it a memorable advertisement, one that can’t be forgotten. After a while, viewers will get to know the message and by then they have enjoyed the advertising campaign for some time.
• Change it for different groups of people. For a health conscious population, emphasize that the bread is full of fiber. For those who are less health conscious, emphasize that the bread is soft.
• Use celebrities to endorse the product or be linked with the product.
• Use beautiful people to advertise the product or idea. Use experts to talk about the idea or product.
• Use social values to pressure you. Society wants you to be a good person or a patriotic person or a healthy person.
• Stigmatize: Part of the successful anti-smoking campaign stigmatizes smoking in public and around children.
• Suggest through association. This technique is used when a vitamin advertisement shows healthy, strong, happy people. It is suggested that the vitamin made them strong, healthy and happy.
  
  Suggestions for all three prints:
  What techniques were used in these posters we see today? (Just write the main idea, not the whole explanation.)
  Did the poster succeed?
  What is the message?
  

Suggested participation:
Bring in favorite magazine ads that illustrate some of the above points and ask the class to analyze them. You could ask the teacher if a bulletin board entitled something such as “Think about It!” or “Be Informed” could be used in the classroom and students could add to it as they find examples.

Suggested follow-up activities:
Create an advertising poster.
Make an advertising video.
In either case, have the students explain:

• The targeted population.
• Identify the techniques used.
  

Have fun!