WWI on the Homefront

The Propaganda War

What is propaganda?

Propaganda is a word used to describe the process of persuading people to believe in a certain idea or a set of ideas.

Why was propaganda used?

In the First World War, propaganda was first used to:

To encourage men to enlist in the armed forces

To encourage people to conserve on the Home Front

To encourage people to contribute to the war effort in any manner they could

To make people hate the Germans.

How was propaganda used?

Enlistment posters form the Great War, could fire up the imagination of young men and make them eager to join the Armed forces.

Propaganda was also used to appeal to the women of Canada. They would try to encourage women to persuade their sons, brothers and husbands to go off and fight in the war.

Posters were also used to encourage support for the war effort at home.

The government encouraged people to do their part (contribute and conserve) and to make them hate the Germans.

The government really attempted to encourage conservation of materials and food that could be used on the Western Front.

In summary…

Propaganda was used for four main reasons:

To encourage men to enlist in the armed forces

To encourage people to conserve on the Home Front

To encourage people to contribute to the war effort in any manner they could

To make people hate the Germans.

The Main Techniques of Propaganda

The main human emotion that any propaganda poster will try to appeal to is our sense of guilt.

In order to achieve the objectives for propaganda, there were two types or styles of propaganda used during the war: a) Positive and b) Negative

Positive

To encourage the readers or viewers to feel that they were part of the effort in helping to win the war and stop the Germans.

That the war was being won.

Negative

Designed to play on the public's fears.

The war might be lost or soldiers will die if you don’t do your part

The enemy would be portrayed as a threat to everyone's safety and way of life.

At times Germans were drawn to look evil or like monsters.

Your turn

 World War I Propaganda Poster Analysis Questions:

GO to the following website and choose four posters to analyse:

http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/warposters/english/

For every poster you analyse you must use the following questions :

Questions

1) What are the contents of the poster? a. What are the main colours used in the poster?

b. What graphic images are included in the poster?

c. What symbols (if any) are used in the poster?

2) Who is the intended target (the audience) of the propaganda?

3) Who is the sender of the message (what side is the poster for, which side is it against)?

4) What is the message in the poster?

a. Is it positive or negative? Explain how you reached this conclusion.

b. Which of the four reasons is this poster achieving? Explain how you reached this conclusion.

5) What is the overall effect or outcome of the poster?