Assignment 4 - Analysing a Book

In the book 'War Posters - Weapons of Mass Communication' the author discusses the relationship between the government and communications industries during the Second World War and how this varied in different countries. The writer appears to be asking what the differences in styles and messages are between the propaganda in several countries. Propaganda examples from Germany, USSR, Britain and America are discussed in reference to style and also how the key values of each country are visually represented and how they differ from each other.

How propaganda was created and the values it was intended to portray to the given nation are discussed in detail. The author explains how Nazi propaganda was 'openly associated with communism' it was distributed by one political party, repressing negatives of war and portraying an 'illusion of coherent reality'. It is important to note that these communist values greatly influenced the style of the propaganda displayed at the time, calculated in its messages, 'ideological' ideas and repetitive use of the swastika symbols to assert control. Advertising space was controlled in Germany and was even more manipulated in Soviet Russia, media was censored and very controlled and the author again shows how this affected the propaganda visuals.

The main point of view that the author appears to be trying to put across is how acutely different these countries propaganda could be. This is asserted when he goes on to discuss British propaganda - he suggests that the graphic design industry in Britain was part of the war effort and was there to assist , it had a much more independent voice whilst still maintaining a desire for unity. The author highlights that messages of promise and benefits were portrayed, posters were intended to "inform and instruct" people on how to behave and carry on with everyday life, encouraged but not forced, hugely different from the authoritative demands of propaganda from countries like Nazi Germany. The author supports his ideas by also suggesting although it seemed a more free type of propaganda from USSR and Germany some people may not have found it completely effective by including quotes from secondary sources such as "posters today are not pictures to sell pills, but to save civilisation and however clever, are a waste of paper unless they kill Germans" a quote from J.B Guild from and advertising company at the time, showing that some people perhaps felt the propaganda should have been more war focussed in terms of fighting and achieving.

The author also discusses American propaganda and explains also how different it was, american imagery was very patriotic, they used a realistic style, depicting photographic images of war, even if they showed defeat, it was honest and truthful. The author also again backs this up with an argument showing that although this seems like a positive way of creating propaganda, it is important to note that advertising was still a business and was still a means of 'mass communication and persuasion' just in a very different form from such propaganda like the Nazi posters.

Although the author uses many references to examples of posters and the odd quote from people to back up his statements, implications may lie in taking on board his line of reasoning as there are not many opinions on the actual propaganda from people that were surrounded by it at the time and although containing many interesting facts it seems more like a 'looking back' view of it.