n Fig. 6 we can see a clear example that portrays the members of the US air force as heroic figures, again the accompanying type is laid out with careful attention to the hierarchy of information intended to convey the direct relationship between “you” the viewer “we” the military by using scale. The bright primary colour used to house the typography on the design easily catch the attention of the viewer drawing their attention the the more detailed illustration in the center, this is a common trend seen in many of the examples of American propaganda from both the First and later the Second World Wars. “Allied rhetoric was more commercially and psychologically aware, focussed more closely on the positive representation of contemporary civilian and military social orders and was ultimately more effective in the manipulation of public opinion” (J. Aulich, 2014)

Fig. 7: General Motors. 1942

Fig. 8: General Motors. ca.1939

Keep ‘Em Firing

Knock the “heil” out of Hitler

One interesting difference in American produced war time posters was the inclusion of humour. A large number of designs like those seen in fig. 7 and 8 were created that depicted the German leader as foolish, childlike or weak. What all of these examples share is the propagandists use of bold typography and language. Using short repeatable phrases such as “We’ll give em hell’” and “Keep ‘em firing”, they would aim to make the message memorable and repeatable. Contractions were used to shorten selected words, making the phrases read more like conversation than instruction.

Even the developing hollywood movie scene was not exempt. Following First World War films such as ”The Big Parade,” produced by Irving Thalberg proved popular but the industry was revolutionised by the inclusion of cinema sound as we progressed into the Second World War. and the well known ”All Quiet on the Western Front” was released in 1930. Much like the broadsheets and posters that had come before them, they portrayed one side of the conflict and influenced the public under the guise of entertainment. However the studios were hesitant to saturate audiences with too many wartime films, until December 7th when the Japanese military attacked Pearl Harbor, then this approach changed completely. Like the Lusitania incident that had preceded it but on a larger scale, the Japanese attack had such an impact on the nation that from this point on most movies produced during the 1940’s and 1950’s featured some sort of wartime aspect. They were either based on the war directly, or they were set in a war time atmosphere.