Despite seeming worlds apart these two advertisements draw some unexpected similarities despite their products/services being completely different. Image one is an advertisement for a cooker where as image two is an enlistment poster.
So how on earth does that advertise a cooker? Well just because the cooker isn’t the main focus doesn’t mean it’s not selling a cooker- in fact it’s jumped onto a marketing idea still in use today; linking a product with a date or event. Royal babies, Christmas, the Olympic games- products loosely connect their wares to events in order to push sales and the same goes here, only for this poster it’s 100 years of American independence they’re celebrating. Image one now makes more sense when thought about in this way; the bold colours red, white and blue, strong ‘westernised’ type, the image filled with details linking to American power- it’s all to prove that ‘Uncle Sam’s Range’ of cookers are the most American on the market.
In comparison to this image two seems dull but it’s filled with national symbology just like the first one. It’s a British enlistment poster created in the middle of the First World War in order to drive recruitment. It manipulates it’s audience to do it’s ‘bidding’ by leaning on two easy crutches- hope and guilt. Firstly it’s depicting a post war world filled with ‘hope’- the viewer has come back alive and has a wonderful home with two children who are keen to learn what their daddy’s role in the conflict was. (we know it must be intended to represent the viewer’s future as the male in the armchair sat stares directly at you. It makes it personal- drawing you in and making the situation about you) It then plays it’s guilt card- the guilt that the viewer must bare when telling his children that he did nothing in the ‘Great’ war. They choose to have the text in a script style typeface giving it a more innocent and sweet feel- you can hear the little girl’s voice as you read. The fact they call it a great war acts as a guilt device too- Great Britain containing great people who will take part in the Great War; this is then backed up by the patriotic symbolism scattered around the image, the English rose, the flur de leav the bear skin guards the little boy plays with.
So how on earth does that advertise a cooker? Well just because the cooker isn’t the main focus doesn’t mean it’s not selling a cooker- in fact it’s jumped onto a marketing idea still in use today; linking a product with a date or event. Royal babies, Christmas, the Olympic games- products loosely connect their wares to events in order to push sales and the same goes here, only for this poster it’s 100 years of American independence they’re celebrating. Image one now makes more sense when thought about in this way; the bold colours red, white and blue, strong ‘westernised’ type, the image filled with details linking to American power- it’s all to prove that ‘Uncle Sam’s Range’ of cookers are the most American on the market.
In comparison to this image two seems dull but it’s filled with national symbology just like the first one. It’s a British enlistment poster created in the middle of the First World War in order to drive recruitment. It manipulates it’s audience to do it’s ‘bidding’ by leaning on two easy crutches- hope and guilt. Firstly it’s depicting a post war world filled with ‘hope’- the viewer has come back alive and has a wonderful home with two children who are keen to learn what their daddy’s role in the conflict was. (we know it must be intended to represent the viewer’s future as the male in the armchair sat stares directly at you. It makes it personal- drawing you in and making the situation about you) It then plays it’s guilt card- the guilt that the viewer must bare when telling his children that he did nothing in the ‘Great’ war. They choose to have the text in a script style typeface giving it a more innocent and sweet feel- you can hear the little girl’s voice as you read. The fact they call it a great war acts as a guilt device too- Great Britain containing great people who will take part in the Great War; this is then backed up by the patriotic symbolism scattered around the image, the English rose, the flur de leav the bear skin guards the little boy plays with.
So how are they similar? Both images have the same target audience- male, middle class the man who makes the decisions and has the money to make it. In both images they target the male by making him the centre of focus showing off his glorified life with ideal circumstance as if to say: buy this! Or do this! And your life will be better for it.
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