ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses specifically on the poster campaign of the US Committee for Public Information and its Division of Pictorial Publicity, created by the best-known advertising and magazine illustrators of the period. Their talents were turned into a world-changing form of propaganda incorporating a range of techniques including the manipulation of gendered symbols used to empower women to become active participants both in sending their men off to war and in supporting them once they were serving. A special element of this campaign was its use of the female figure both as a symbol of American nationalism and as an angelic caregiver. This approach encompassed styles from the mythological to the practical, using persuasive techniques ranging from patriotism to guilt. The idea and definition of propaganda are also explored in an effort to fathom its importance in America’s war effort and its status as a communicative technique.
