Essay On Ww2 Propaganda

Propaganda: “information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.” (dictionary.com) The people of this country, and many others, are influenced and shaped by propaganda on a daily basis. However, this constant flow of information wasn’t always present. The birth of widespread propaganda mainly started during World War Two. Nearly every country involved in the war created some sort of propaganda at that time. In order to truly understand what propaganda is and why it works so well, we must look at some of the first examples of political propaganda. Two American propaganda posters from WWII will be analysed in this essay. One, a poster warning American citizens not to share war information, and another telling citizens to never waste rationed food (see figures 1 and 2). Both of these posters use many rhetorical devices and propaganda techniques, but in very different ways. The first poster, titled Keep Your Trap Shut is an example of some of the more striking posters of the time. The poster features a mousetrap that has caught a piece of newspaper with the words “Crew Claims U-boat Knew of Ship’s Sailing,”. There are bold white letters on a red background that state “Keep your [trap] shut! Don’t give the rats any information!” next to three caricatures of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Hideki Tojo. This poster uses the plain folks and name calling …show more content…
They pray on the hopes and fears of the American people, and imparts new ideas and concerns to the viewer. They use rhetorical appeal along with the classic propaganda techniques in order to sway the reactions of the people. These posters each use propaganda techniques and rhetorical appeal, but each in their own way and style. If these posters were never created, American citizens during WWII would have no idea what is expected of them by their