Image Comparison

The cross-Atlantic portrayal of Great Britain and America are powerfully represented and illustrated within the two advertisements. The grandiose western dominance and wealth of the late 19th and early 20th century are conveyed intricately through Savile Lumley’s World War I Poster of 1915, and Schumacher & Ettlinger’s Uncle Sam Range of 1876.

The layouts of these two advertisements are just as important as the message and underlying meaning itself. Lumley’s World War 1 Poster illustrates the matter with an intellectual and sophisticated palette of colour, appealing to the middle class of the time. The font style helps to reinforce this height of intelligence with quite a well spoken and playful, but disciplined and visually spoken through the use of italics, practically falling from the boys lips. This transforms the only text of the advertisement in to a piece of script, and an awkwardly unanswerable question for the father, struggling to grip an answer and an excuse, clenched in the guilt grip. By using this carefully placed language the advert becomes emotive, as if to say “do you want to be in this position”, although the man’s eyes say otherwise. It is deceiving to see this question could be asked by the father himself, as his gaze watches with dominance, verging on sinister, so in this light the propaganda poster could be seen in quite a dark shadow. In a stark contrast, The Uncle Sam Range advertisement cements its intent on power and capitalism through the use of a solid gold font – referencing a saloon style font you’re likely to glimpse in a spaghetti western, inadvertently stereotyping their own country rather comically by expanding and amplifying their own grandeur.

The Uncle Sam Range ad continues this theme of material utopia and opulence and power, reflecting a higher ideal of the American dream and representing the already established wealth of America in the late 19th Century. It’s also a direct message from America, boasting to the rest of the world of a rapid progress and a new modernistic lifestyle, celebrating 100 years of independence (evident from the clock face) and flamboyantly perusing a higher class status. In contrast to Lumley’s 1915 poster, Great Britain is represented modesty with less obvious signs of command over the rest of the world, although the family scene can be compared as middle to higher class, just like the Uncle Sam ad. But the enrolment poster’s psychology works in a different manner, working as a propaganda war poster as opposed to presenting a product. It relies on guilt techniques and the shame of going against a black and white fallacy, where by not complying with an offer produced by the advertiser, you are likely to come out worse off.

Both posters appear to point a finger towards a middle-class market, one in America that aspires to be richer (and better?), and the British being relatively middle class (with the gentleman mirroring the status of the viewer, this idea of mirroring is incredibly powerful throughout the entire advertisement, as his stare mirrors the viewers). You could also conclude to the extent that the audience would appear in the form of a family man, or a gentleman of his time who holds a lot dear to his heart, including his children.

The Uncle Sam Range refers to the future propaganda icon of Uncle Sam in the classically dictat campaign. In essence, both advertisements can be seen as openly referencing their country’s inpenetratable power, suggesting the only way to become successful is to follow the lead of what we are shown in society. This one advertisement acts as an accurate premonition of America’s patriotic and glory coated future.