The Politics of War

In the reading Remembering Rosie: Advertising Images of Women in World War II, Author Maureen Honey describes her take on the War and what inspired the propaganda that became the machinery of WWII. During WWII, America was faced with a conflict at home and abroad. To launch an attack against Japan after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, America needed to mass produce war material in order to effectively head into a war. The problem that the country would face was the need for bodies to produce these materials during a time of "labor shortages". With this conflict at hand, the nation would then go into "full propaganda mode" to play off the emotions of the American people and create a space for everyday Americans to contribute to the war effort.

"It was thought that propaganda could help the government control public responses"

With major social factors such as segregation looming over the American culture in many aspects of American life (military, restaurants, schools, neighborhoods as well as women's roles in the culture), Honey points out how It became a challenge for the nation to sell this war to the population of the nation that were considered left out. The government used their power of persuasion to persuade Americans to support the war not only through the loss of lives in battle, but by standing up and sharing the burden on American soil.

What was interesting to me is how before the war, Certain segments were unaccepted in American society but when it came to finding people ready to sacrifice their lives, the nation called for these individuals aid. Especially when looking at women and their already subordinate roles in the culture as mothers and wives, now being instrumental parts of the war movement at home. Their contribution during this war may be forgotten by many when put in context of the war itself but history cannot forget their story.

What Are You Gonna Buy When You Get Home?

War affects consumer trends greatly. The advent of the radio, subsequent advertising, and possibly the modern era of consumer communication stemmed from returning G.I.'s from WWI and the technology they had used. Spam, the famous mystery meat, held a special place in the hearts of the boys that got used to eating it in the trenches. When the soldiers of the 20th century came home, they kept some of their uniform items with. Such is the birth of the popularity of the plain white t-shirt.

In WWII though, companies and advertisers had a unique dilemma: how do you sell something which you can't make to people who can't buy it?

You advertise the intention. In this respect, advertisers we're not only advertising a product to buy, but a vision of America that the G.I.'s were fighting for and the rest of the country was sacrificing for. As Stuart Ewen explains in chapter 15 of his book PR!, the "shortage of consumer goods ... made product advertising pointless." Instead advertisers choose to advertise themselves as an intracle part of what would be post-war America.

Speaking from personal experience, I can attest to the stories of service members and one of their great past times being speaking about what they will do when they get home. As a member of the USS Enterprise, I knew well in advance what the first things I would do, eat, and buy would be when I returned to home port.

This assertion by corporations to sell themselves as essential and deserved pieces of American life would be effective both to the American public and on an international level. Nearly a decade and a half later, this "wondrous and critical" technologies would take center stage in the famed "Kitchen Debate" between then Vice-President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. In it, modern conveniences such as dishwashers and Cadillac were on display, prompting the Russian head of state to grow angry at the display of American consumer technology dominance.

The Role of Advertising During War

Opportunity! By W. J. Weir 1942

In W. J. Weir's Opportunity!, he describe ed the importance of advertising especially during war time. According to Weir, there are many uses for war and he believed that advertising could be used to help win the war. Winning the war would help boost people's belief in the American dream. At that time the most important thing was winning the war. Weir felt that advertising was as important as all the raw materials that are used during war time.

"Advertising has become a skilled worker out of a job. Oh, certain jobs
have been created for him, jobs to help keep himself fed, to give him something
to do. They're called "institutional" jobs."

Although Weir saw how important advertising was, he felt as though it wasn't being taken advantage of as it should have been. Weir explains that if anything the country can sell victory. This would boost the spirits of the society.

World War New

In Chapter one of Paul Fussel’s “Wartime” he talks of the Second World War and how it marked the era of a new type of war. One that inevitably forced the old trends and old ways of thinking out no matter how reluctant both civilians and military personal were in letting go of their image of war. This change did not come right away though. “Wars are all alike in the beginning. The reason is psychological and compensatory: no one wants to foresee or contemplate the horror, the inevitable ruin of civilized usages, which will entail. Hence the defensive exercise of the optimistic imagination” (Fussel, Wartime p. 10)

This “optimistic imagination” played a huge role in how people viewed the war both strategically and insightfully. Looking back on the war one would almost laugh at the fact that in 1942 a colonel “pounded the table” and said “Goddam it, they’ll never retake a square foot until they get our men down there on horses and donkeys”. This quote seems like it was taken from the civil war rather than the Second World War which ended up relying on technical advances over anything else.

On the opposite end of the spectrum there was also people questioning whether those over fifty should fight since “instead of marching to war, today’s soldier rides to war on wheels”. Eventually those whose thoughts were naive were forced to rap there head around a new type of war. The military was required to change their tactics, strategies, and in some cases even their morality. If anything was proven from the war it was that war is unpredictable, one cannot rely on old ways of thinking in a new war.

Esquire's Blonde Bombshells; the True War Heroes

In a 1943 Esquire Magazine advertisement the wording is very manipulative in how it works to persuade females that they need to look like the women in their magazine, in order to be patriotic.

"For the faces once seen in Esquire become a part of the dream-stuff of our fighting foes, all over the world. And what more natural, than that fighting men should dream of fair women, as they always have and will? And what finer role for an American girl than to go along, in the good companionship of the mind, to share with a million men the ardors and endurances of histories greatest ordeal?"

This quote can make the average young female feel like they need to buy Esquire Magazine in order to see what the "dream look" is. It also makes them feel like they need to look the part of these Esquire pin up girls in order to please the troops fighting over seas. It makes females feel like they shuold look good for the men that are out there risking their lives ( It's the least they could do).

This advertisement does a good job of picking at the insecurities of females and making them feel like they need to look better. What better way to get females to buy your magazine than making them feel like they're being patriotic by doing it?

"This face will be seen, remembered, evoked and evolved into an ideal, by boys in base hospitals, on lonely watches, on far-off outposts, in deserts and jungles, and on unfamiliar oceans. For this girl's imagined approval, a million braver deeds will be done."

They use examples of distant and lonely places to gain the sympathy of these emotional females. Im guessing that Esquire wanted females to send in their pictures for the troops overseas because they're making it seem as if the troops are the only ones looking at these magazines. They use wording that states by the females looking the part a million braver deeds will be done by the troops.

It amazes me how one could think that by them being a little sex kitten their troops will fight harder. But I guess when you're trying to target a certain audience you will use any techniques you can find. This ad places great emphasis on how their magazine is read by fighting troops, and they are the best men. So women should want to look good for the best men.

Fighting troops have the right to dream about beautiful women, so a woman should feel honored to take on this role (sarcasm ends here).

"Triump of the Will"

"Triumph of the Will."
An Extraordinarily directed movie!

The movie that we watched in class "Triumph of the Will," deserves a brief analysis, for evey second of the movie consisted of a large message not only for the Germans, but for the entire world. The movie starts with Hitler on a plane flying up in the sky, this symbolized how Adolf Hitler was coming down from the heavens to save Nuremberg and the entire nation of Germany.

Later in the movie, the most emotional and thought provoking scenes were the speeches given by prominent leaders, including Hitler. After viewing the whole movie and the speeches given by the leaders and watching the young men of Germany standing firm to the words of Hitler, it brings back the question of "Did Hitler really brain-wash the Germans?" - Many reply "that Hitler in fact led a campaign in which he brainwashed the entire German public, and that he somehow just hypnotized the entire nation, and made them into some sort of robots who blindly followed him."

The entire above answer, completely underestimates Hitler's campaign and it diminishes the complexity of the whole tactic. For Hitler did not brainwash the Germans, and the movie itself shows that: Throughout the movie all Hitler did was give speeches and speeches, that provoked almost even young men and women. He laid out the entire plan in his speeches for Germany and the German people. There was no hypnotizing nor any sort of brainwashing in which through which he acquired the consent of the Germans.

Therefore, the movie is a great propaganda that the Nazi party used. However, the movie indirectly shows how each and every German was also part of this campaign. They knew what they were going into. The cheers and screaming of the German people after very sentence that Hitler uttered, gave evidence to the very fact, that ALL GERMANS were ready to move forth with the Nazi Party.

In conclusion, the movie leaves no aspect untouched, for it was inundated with patriotic speeches and symbolism - that promised each and every German, a bright and prosperous future!

"Do Your Best... Be At Your Best".

There were three primary ways that women contributed to the war efforts, and which media promoted through advertisements, handbills and movie shorts. The first was in association with the military when women filled military jobs left open by the draft.

The second was the farm women and housewives who fought the war from their kitchens and gardens. Labour that was promoted especially with the Victory posters.

The third way that women contributed was their work in the heavy industries. The media embodied women in the famous illustration: "Rosie the Riveter''. Although women had worked in factories since they had been founded in the early nineteenth century, a gender-segregated labor market channeled women into jobs then considered more appropriate to their presumed skills.

As an international student, I'd like to compare it with Russian war propaganda. In Soviet advertising, women were shown fighting side by side with the men. And there were also many images of women, doing men's jobs, while the men where out in war. One could say that it was comparable to feminism – the thought that women should have the same rights and not only be stuck in the kitchen.


Thus, during World War II, «…women become the chief iconographic deliverers of this exhortation, and the woman war worker, in particular, was the principal symbol of national unity and industrial mobilization» (Remembering Rosie: Advertising Images of women in WWII, Maureen Honey).

THE SAME STORY IS REPEATING ITSELF!

The “Greater Good” was an interesting document to read for a number of reasons. Chapter 12 is almost a parallel of the current economic disaster that the United States is facing. Now as back then financial leaders are taking an arrogant attitude toward the public. For instance I read in Chapter 12:

“…Edgerton confided to the National Association Of Manufacturers (NAM) member that homeless and jobless Americans had only themselves to blame for their predicament. Their cruel conditions he instructed, were simply the result of their not having dutifully practiced ‘habits of thrift and conservation.’ “

This is exactly the current problem of the United States when big banks began to sell houses to the people that could not afford to buy one. Most of these companies wanted to make more money and so they were willing to sell as many houses as possible to anybody who wanted one. For that reason a lot of people are having problems making the payments for their house. In most cases the majority of the people are loosing their houses and there is nothing the government can do about it. The banks are saying the borrowers are to blame but no matter how unrealistic the borrowers were in what they thought they could afford, it was the banks that gave them the money even though the banks had the possibility to find out if a borrower could afford to pay. The banks could have stopped this from happening but were more interested in making money than in the “ public good “.

Then Stuart Ewen added:

“Amid widespread economic distress, pronouncements such as this only quickened the spread of anti-business feeling…”

This is a case where the public turned against big business because of its arrogance. We see the same things happening today not because of what business is saying but because of what it is doing. The current uproar over the AIG bonuses is only one part of the reaction against the crazy amount of money financial executives are trying to take for themselves even when they are ruining their companies. The public is very angry!

Once again the public is so untrusting of business that the public does not want to be involved in business. People were hurt in 1929 and they are being hurt again today. The author said:

“ Beneath the surface of these statistical catastrophes, the human toll is enormous. “

This quote has a very contemporary sound in a year when people are loosing their homes, retirement and life savings because of greedy businessmen, horribly incompetent CEOs and the government, which was not paying attention.

BOMBS AWAY!!

Technological advances have been made over the course of time. Telephones, computers, televisions and radio are a few examples of what we have accomplished. But we have invented alot of bad and evil inventions over this period. Bombs were created to take a large portion of a country or an enemy "off the gridlock."

Precision bombing became a tool for the ultimate weapon. But this tactic wasn't perfected for a long time. They started by flying over seven miles, but it was a poor target for bombing populated areas. Flying of the planes were incorrect and it even cost many lives.

"One memorable ironic action occured on May 10, 1940, when a Luftwaffe squadron, setting out to bomb Dijon, by some error dropped its load on its own civilians in Freiburg-im-Breisqua killing fifty seven of them. (Faswell, Wartime, page 14)

Propagandists had a different theory. They believed that it was not an accident. Bombers could precisely hit wherever they aimed at. Weather, wind and other natural cause could not alter the position of the bomb. So was this a plot to raise morale for ones country?

Like many people say, "Countries come together in a time of crisis." During 9/11, Americans were in disbelief about what was happening. But the day after, there were flags on everyones house. If we could use these bombs in our advantage, the Americans would waste no time. And thats exactly what we did.