Image Analysis

The first piece of work we have been given for Context and Practice is to analysis two pieces of graphics. The first piece is “The Uncle Sam Range” designed by Schumacher and Ettlinger in 1876 advertising a cooker. The second piece is the famous “Daddy, what did YOU do in the Great War?” by Savile Lumley in 1915 used to persuade young men to fight in World War 1.

 The first thing that both pieces have in common is the sense of great pride in their nationality and country. However both posters portray this in different ways. The Uncle Sam’s range goes over board indulging everything with an American flag, the positioning of the people is also very significant to this point because it puts the focus on the wealthy American couple in the center wearing their formal clothes and offering food to other, less thought of, states who are shown as mere children to the great US. On the other hand Lumley’s poster uses the pride of the viewers to make them feel a sense of guilt if they did not do anything. The poster was created in 1915 only one year after the war had began, it used a clever tack tick by showing the viewer a potential future, by writing a rhetorical question it get the viewer thinking “what would I say to that?”. The expressionless face of the man looking like he is regretting past choices makes the person think about how they wouldn’t want to be in that situation. Another subtle boast of patriotism is in the phrasing of the girls question: ‘Great war’ implies that that’s what they will be calling it after they win.

Both posters show a strong sense of patriotism on the surface but they use subtle methods to portray their messages, which could both be interpreted differently. For example in the second poster, the mans facial expression could also imply that he played his part in the war and is scarred from the experience. His daughters question is bringing up repressed memories. The fact that the room is well furnished and they are dressed well plays to the idea that he benefited well from the war. To me it would not make sense to set a campaign where the character is regretting not playing his part by being in a comfortable setting. 

The first poster is breaking advertising tradition by not focusing on the cooker itself; instead the family, predominately the man, is set in the middle. This could easily be mistaken for some sort of campaign for feeding the world. The fact that the man is center of attention in this piece and equally how no woman features in the second poster suggests that it is aimed at the male population, selling them a life they want and making them think it is easily achievable through either the purchase of an oven or the partition in the war. The position of women in both posters unites them once again as it shows the view on women at the time revealing sexism in both decades.