500 Words

Savile Lumley

This was a poster run throughout 1914 and 1915 (the first 2 years of British involvement in World War 1) as part of a recruitment push to fill the 300 thousand new recruits that the government requested. As a result of such public pressure from adverts like this and many others in 2 years a million new recruits had signed up. The following year to that, conscription was introduced.
This particular poster tried to guilt trip young Briton's into joining the force by effectively taking a snap shot of what life would be like in post war. It attempts to depict your average conservative father in a comfy domestic roll being turned upside down by the guilt of not partaking in the bloodshed of 1914.
The pattern in this image is particularly clever I feel as the feint embroidery on the lounge chair and curtains contains what we commonly associate with very imperial coloring and shape. On the fathers lap sits the pretty bow tied haired daughter who has glanced up from her novel to ask her daddy... "Daddy, what did YOU do in the Great War?” His son sits by his side playing with his toy soldiers. The father stares at the viewer in guilt.
The greatest asset of this poster is the father’s head. It is as if the head has actually been cut out from the rest of the poster and inserted back in. The effect is that the head almost seems to stick out in a 3d fashion. This is the foremost thing that lodges in my brain when looking at this image. The somewhat displaced head is unnatural and thus our brain has to work harder on deciphering it.


The Uncle Sam Range

"Uncle Sam's Little Dinner Party...1876." A patriotic appeal to sell stoves. The whole world attends Uncle Sam's dinner party.
Here we see a dinner party run by a stove company that contains all the various stereotypes of that era. We have the upper class white being served by a black servant. Uncle Sam sits talking to “The World” with an eagle perched on his shoulder. All the colours used and indeed the pattern is entirely American. Red stars on a blue background, or of course red and white stripes.
I think it’s interesting despite the obvious anti black feelings at the time that they chose in this picture to depicts the world with a rather round African face.
The stove of course is the focus of this image, the sole supplier of this historic dinner party. It displays plenty of pots and kettles boiling on top, with even a roast chicken being produced from within. A testament to the versatility of this rather splendid luxury item.
My favourite aspect of this poster is Uncle Sam sitting at the table and appearing to offer the world food from his stove.
This is one of the ultimate pieces of commercial advertising and political propaganda combined I think we have ever had.