OUIL401 - Study Task 2

Even though both images are very different styles, when compared they do share some aspects of purpose and meaning. The main purpose of both images is to "recruit" people into the ideologies the posters are trying to communicate. The poster by Savile Lumley tries to play on the conscious of the viewer, into joining in the 1st World War. The male figure who is the main focal point in the poster, is staring straight at the viewer. The italic font at the bottom reinforces the message, and plays on the stereotypical males role, to be a man, you must join the war and if you don't, you will have failed as a man. The Uncle Sam Range advertisement relies heavily on playing on America's patriotism to interest people in the product.The fact that Uncle Sam is the central focal point, and is shown to be feeding the world, tries to show off Americas wealth, playing on peoples beliefs that the US is better than anywhere else in the world. The advert was produced in 1876, 100 years after America's independence, so using lots of patriotic imagery will and presenting the American ideal will make people believe that by buying this product, they too will be as great as America, and if you want to be a good American, you must buy this cooker.

There is a lot of patriotic imagery in both images, the Uncle Sam advert is practically made up of patriotic colours and symbolism, from the way that Uncle Sam is the main focus to how the list the globe is holding makes a mockery out of other countries through racial stereotyping, enforcing the "America is great" ideology. The other image, using iconography typically associated with British culture, such as the Beef-eaters that the child is playing with and the roses on the curtains, again reinforces the idea of being proud of and supporting a culture through participating in the event/product the advertisements are promoting.

Both images try to target a primarily male audience, both playing on the stereotype of strong male figure, who provides for his family. The Savile Lumley uses the imagery of the children and the text at the bottom to make the male viewer feel guilty for not being part of the war, and doing "his duty" as a man. The text is trying to make the viewer think and question him role as a male and father, if he didn't join the war. The simple style of the illustration is straight forward and puts the point across easily without any added fuss, however the other packs as much imagery in as possible in order to put the point across and reel in the viewer. The Uncle Sam targets the male and promotes the cooker to him, not by focusing on the different aspects of the cooker itself, like it would if it was targeting females, but rather focuses on what can be gained from buying the cooker, it focuses on aspects that males would aspire to achieve, like wealth and power and the typical American ideals.