The picture shows a loyal spaniel propped up on a chair, resting his head on the uniform of a Navy sailor. On the wall behind the dog, a gold-star banner hangs. The text states, “. . . Because somebody talked!” The gold-star, too frequently seen during World War II, is the banner given to the families who have lost a loved one in the war. Everyone at the time knew exactly what the poster meant. You kept quiet, or run the risk of endangering your family and everyone else for some idle chit-chat. The artist is clearly sending a message that needed to be heard. This poster is, in essence, propaganda. So often when we think of propaganda, we only think about the evil side of it. In reality, propaganda is just the way we publish ideas that are meant to either help a cause, or harm a cause. Among other things, keeping quiet was a huge American propaganda push. A famous one was the “loose lips sink ships” slogan, and there were even posters reminding men not to tell the women they dated about anything. Anyone could be a spy. Posters like these and other propaganda are made to persuade us, and they often work. In order to be persuasive, you will need the three cannons of rhetoric: Pathos (emotional appeal), Ethos, (credibility), and Logos (Logical appeal).
The poster effectively communicates in at least two of the three cannons of rhetoric.
The primary way it speaks is Pathos. This is a very emotionally driven piece, as many people feared for their sons’ and husbands’ lives. Fear is the primary emotion in this picture. Secrecy was of utmost importance during World War II and saying anything about the war or your job (if you worked for the government or the war effort) was a potential threat. This poster reminds you to be careful about what you do and say- there are consequences for every action. Fear and the need to protect your own family is very effective motivation.
In addition, I like that the artist chose to put a dog in the picture. Dogs are generally seen as very loyal and sympathetic creatures, lending to the depth of emotion. Who can’t feel for those puppy eyes staring at you?
Moreover, I can’t help but feel some ambition when I see this picture. We were determined to win this war. We were being careful and keeping secrets, and everyone had to take part. It paid off.
The poster has very good Ethos as well. The artist, Granger, is a very famous WWII propaganda artist. He is the one responsible for Rosy the Riveter and other famous designs. The artist and nature of the poster lend greatly to Ethos. The subject itself helps boost the Ethos. For example, everyone knew that you couldn’t talk carelessly as there were spies everywhere, or at least we assumed. It is better to be paranoid then dead!
Furthermore, Propaganda was published to accomplish all kinds of things: driving out careless talk, advertising war bonds, even making sure you eat the right kind of food. American propaganda essentially had the same job PSAs do; to spread awareness and encourage good behavior in different situations. PSAs and propaganda are usually paid for or published by government companies or other trusted organizations. This makes them easier to trust and more credible.
The Logos could have been stronger, though a lot of propaganda has little or no Logos. Some Logos is in the visual details, such as the correct uniform and the realistic style. There are no statistics or numbers, though. Something I have noticed while studying vintage and new advertisements is that the older ones seem to have less proof and hard evidence to back it up, especially propaganda. New ones almost always include some sort of percent or ratio for us to think about, while back then consumers could probably trust the product (or in this case, message) easily. If this poster was published in this age, it would probably include a fact about careless talk in the text.
Overall, I feel like this poster is very effective in Ethos and Pathos, and slightly effective in Logos. Sometimes it is hard to judge older things like this because we are not in the same context as back then. It was a different time and the people had different needs and demands. But I imagine that back in its day, this poster was a very powerful message that should not be forgotten: Every action has a consequence.
Propaganda? It works.
