WWII Propaganda by Khamaron Milian

What is propaganda?

Propaganda is information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.

 Why?

 During WW2 the goal of propaganda was recruitment, financing the war effort, unifying the public         behind the war effort, resource conservation, and factory production of war materials. 

What do they look like?

Propaganda used during WW2 mainly consisted of posters. These posters would have a subject that represented the country, the enemy, and some sort of story/narrative to motivate people to join the war effort. An example of one of these famous figures on the posters would be Uncle Sam which was the personification of the U.S. federal government or country in general.   

This is a poster of Uncle Sam used for recruiting soldiers. Propaganda usually works due to the posters clarifying that it doesn't want just anybody but you and this typically inspired people to join. Another famous example of propaganda during this time was Rosie the Riveter which was aimed towards women to come and work at the factories.

This is a poster of Rosie the Riveter. As you can see the subject is a strong woman and writing that says "We Can Do It!". This is another example of a positive image used to get people to join the war effort.

This poster depicts a scenario instead of a hero. The nazi symbol is depicted on a boot stepping on a building in America basically saying that if we don't join the war then Germany will invade the U.S. next. The U.S. weren't the only ones that made these posters it was actually a common thing amongst different countries during times of war.

Propaganda around the world

This poster is from Italy and depicts an American soldier as a ruthless gangster that doesn't care who the enemy is and will kill children. 

This poster is from Germany and depicts German soldiers on the front. I believe this poster is aimed towards citizens to go work in factories to produce ammo for the soldiers.

This poster is from Japan and it depicts either President Roosevelt or Truman as a monster figure. I can't read Kanji but the words are probably used against him in some way to promote the war effort in Japan.

I thought it would be interesting to see propaganda not only from the U.S. perspective but also from that of the countries we were fighting against.

Summary

Overall,  propaganda was used worldwide and used to depict the enemy as evil, recruit citizens, and promote the war in general. The media was strong during this time since these posters almost always worked. These posters made people more patriotic and helped the war effort and morale of these countries.