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Task Two - Design Context Seminar - Comparative Writing

The two images that I am comparing are...

 'The Uncle Sam Range' Advertising Image by Schumacher & Ettlinger, New York (1876)






&

'World War 1 Propaganda Poster' by Savile Lumley (1915)



Even though both images are for the purpose of propaganda, they have both used different approaches. The first image 'The Uncle Sam Range' uses persuasion, the force of being patriotic for your country, and also desire to have such a lavish lifestyle to advertise a certain product. The second image by Saville Lumley is set in the future, and is a piece of war time propaganda, focusing more on guilt tripping the intended audience into joining the army. 

The choice of font differs in both images for different reasons. The first image uses bold western, cowboy style font in a bright gold colour. This is to symbolise the wealth of the country, and also symbolises western america, the land of the free and the whole idea of the 'Gold Rush'. In this type, the letter 'U' and the letter 'S' in 'Uncle Sam' have been made bigger to emphasise the greatness of the 'US'. The second image takes a slightly different approach to the style of font used. The type is not aggressive to show the girl is speaking softly to her father. However, the word 'YOU' has been capitalised and underlined, much like the famous america poster 'WE WANT YOU'. This combined with the fact the man in the image is looking at you makes the poster feel much more personal to it's intended audience. 

The purpose of the first image is to advertise 'The Uncle Sam Range' of cookers through the medium of propaganda. The image is based around celebrating the 100th anniversary of Independence Day. Everything in the image suggests power of america and is extremely patriotic. The carpet, Curtains, Clothes are all in the flag of America. 'The Bill of Fair' that the globe is holding, is an extremely long list showing all the foods from around the world and being quite Stereotypical and Discriminating towards them, implying that they have the best food. There is also an element of racism in this image, with the cartoon drawing of an african face on the globe. This relates to the black slaves of that time and has been placed there to humiliate and and mock africans and also to show that the country are superior. 

The second image has been created during world war one. By using propaganda in a different context to the first, the purpose of this piece is to guilt trip the intended audience into signing up for the army. Quite cleverly, the image is set in the future, after the war has been won, even though it was published when the war was still ongoing. There is many subliminal signs within the image that all mount to making the person feel guilty. The man is submissive, looking away from the kids, his face looks ashamed and disappointed that he hasn't been involved with the war. To make him feel more ashamed, the little boy plays with soldiers and guns at his feet and this is a subliminal attack at the father. The daughter wants a wartime story to be read, which again glorifies the war, suggesting that England have already won the war even though at the time it is still ongoing. There is also symbols of england within the image. The red rose on the curtains, the fleur-de-lis pattern on the couch shows royalty. Even the kids are dressed in the red and white english colours, where as the man wears a shade of brown, again emphasising on his weakness. 

The target and potential audiences for each image is obviously different. The first image seems to be functioning at a really low intelligence level which suggests that it isn't necessarily aimed at the upper class americans, and maybe more towards the middle and lower classes. This is going off the fact that the  upper class citizens would be the ones more likely to have a good education, back in those days. However, the image also seems to flaunt the lavish lifestyle that the cooker can bring you and this may also work towards the wealthier men, forcing them to buy one in order to stay at the top. Definitely aimed at the man of the family, focusing on uncle sam in the centre of the image, being waited on.  The intended audience of the second piece is also playing on the low intelligence of the British Public. Even though it is much more subtle that the first one, it is still obviously trying to persuade people to join the army by guilt tripping them and giving them this ridiculous vision of the future. Again, the image is primarily intended for males, as they was the ones who went out to fight in them days. Young males to be more precise, would be a potential audience, not really knowing what career path to take, and not wanting to let their family down. 

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