Compare and contrast the two images ‘The Uncle Sam Range’ by Schumacher & Ettlinger and the war propaganda by Savile Lumley.
'The Uncle Sam Range' advertising poster created by Schumacher & Ettlinger in New York 1876 is a poster depicting the ultimate American middle-class lifestyle. The posters intention is to advertise the cooker, the uncle sam range and make American citizens believe that they need this to complete the dream life. The War Propaganda poster however was created to convince men to subscribe to the army in 1915, World War One.
The Uncle Same Range advert has a very Patriotic American style to it, everything from the text, colour and imagery used are important to the overall image. The man of the house is central to the image and this conveys that the man of the house is the most powerful character in the image, the family are spread around him with his wife in her "rightful place" serving food to her family. Male citizens of America would be drawn to this because of that, and this is important because the man of the house was generally the sole bread winner and therefore the target market for the product. However in Lumleys' war poster the man is shown with a haggard face and makes him appear weak. The idea of this poster is to demasculate men and guilt-trip them into "signing up." A similarity between the posters are that they are both aimed at the men of the house and the idea of their families being proud of them. The advertisement poster uses people's greed whereas Lumley's poster uses people's fear of disappointment and unworthiness to trick them into doing what they want the consumer to do.
In both pieces of work the font plays an important part. The 'Uncle Sam Range' is written in a typical old-style American font, looking particularly Western with its chunky serifs and gold colour. This relates to the Gold-Rush in America and also symbolises wealth. The 'U' and the 'S' are also bigger to draw even more attention to the 'United States.' The font used for the propaganda poster however is much more intimate as the words are written in italics to give the effect that someone is speaking the words, for example the man's children. The capital 'YOU' is accusing the viewer and therefore all men seeing this at the time would feel targeted, which is what the intention was. This is a very well known effect, Kitchener's famous war poster - 'Your country needs YOU' worked extremely well at targeting insecure men. Lumley's use of the man's eyes staring straight out at the viewer could also be linked back to kitcheners poster.
Similarly, both of the posters use cultural symbolism. The American advertisement is more direct, garish and pronounced with the red, blue and white carpet, wallpaper and curtains with the window looking out upon the Centenary Hall in Philadelphia, a very grand building. Lumley's war poster however is much more subtle and less grand with the English Rose pattern on the curtain and the beefeater soldiers. Lumley's use of this means that it is directed to ordinary civilians in Britain.
Sarah Fanelli
