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Razie Hyria
English 15
12 September 2018
Many times I have caught myself looking at political posters and ignoring the text that's
on it. Often times political posters, or posters in general are made to be bright, flashy, or unique
in some way to grasp someone's attention. Initially, we think that is the most important part of a
poster, but what often gets overlooked is the text written on it truly makes a political poster
powerful. Without the feature of written language, political propaganda posters would not
When running for election a candidate tends to use many forms of propaganda such as
posters, slogans, and other media. These forms of propaganda, specifically in posters or slogans,
tend to reference ethos, pathos, or logos when trying to relate to potential voters. In short, they
feature rhetoric, the way we use language and images to persuade (Carroll 3). Rhetoric is
essential to helping us become informed consumers, but it also helps evaluate the ethics of
messages; how they affect us personally, and how they affect society.” (Carroll 3). Carroll
basically means it is important to analyze what makes certain, in this case propaganda, so
powerful because then we can see what its intention is, and thus predict its intended impact.
Furthermore, you’ll often find rhetoric to be apart of a certain genres conventions. Think of
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conventions as “the ingredients of a cake”, they make something what it is. So it would make
sense how often political propaganda uses rhetoric for its intended goals.
In 2008, President Obama’s “Hope” poster took that years election by storm, and is still
arguably one of the 2000’s most influential and popular political posters. Apparently, “by
October 2008, Fairey and Sergeant claimed to have printed 300,000 posters (with less than 2,000
sold and the rest given away or displayed) and 1,000,000 stickers” (Aaron Ben). But, it’s fair to
and most importantly the text. If Fairey had not put that four letter in front of Obama then it
would have just been a pretty poster. It would not have purpose or embody what obama stood
for, therefore it would not have been able to gain popularity as it did, and thus less exposure to
potential voters decreasing its likelihood to persuade. But, Fairey took into account what
Obama's stood for to the people of the nation: he was a beacon of hope. For African Americans,
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and those heavily impacted by the recent recession. Some would even argue that clever
placement of “Hope” is what really drove Obama into winning the 44th Presidential election.
A lot of times, especially older forms of political propaganda, feature more cartoon like
previous Obama piece. This piece does not have the political
course significantly more text is featured. This is a perfect example of how the lack of text could
significantly hinder a posters ability to inform. This posters purpose is to “call for Americans to
start working together instead of arguing. The rancor in Washington is slowing our progress to a
standstill.” (outta) This piece has a much more aggressive tone especially when compared to
Obama's much more gentle tone. It’s obvious through the bold and red text. Removing the words
“conservatives” and “liberals” alone would completely ruin the message it was trying to convey
and make its intended purpose ineffective. It’s intended audience would not know they were the
intended audience, nor would the piece be considered political since its two textual references to
the conventions of something political would be lacking. Thus the piece would be more broad in
Lastly,
another Shepard
context of this
piece is very
important, so it is
important to know
it was released in 2017, aka, the Trump Era. The tone of this piece is very empowering, It's
obvious that it was intended to let the audience feel something. With chosen words like “ greater
than fear”, “dignity”, and “protect each other”. It also gives the audience a sense of unity with
the repeated use of the line “We the people”. Of course, the intended audience is towards
minorities and the general united states population to stick together as somebody's (Trumps)
political reign passes. This post is similar to both previous pieces in its conventions, because like
Obama's piece, it features figures, but like the Disunity piece they're not political figures. It also
features more usage of text similar to the disunity piece, But the word choice is again a clever
play like Obama's because it directly references the constitution with “We the people”, a direct
political connection. The purpose of this piece is to link, or bring together the nation in what
many view as dark times. It does so by connecting powerful text to images. If the text used were
to be different, or non existent, again the message would become unclear or altered. Text on
political posters drives the argument and makes it clear what the creator of the piece intended to
do.
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I conclude Political propaganda posters come in different forms, with different agendas
that stand for different groups of people with an even more diverse intended audience. They have
conventions that consist of ethos,logos, and/or pathos. Each used simultaneously or individually
to accurately persuade, inform, or empower. Even if we focus on their physical properties its
noted that not all of them are layered with text, or have the most vivid eye catching background,
sometimes all it takes is one powerful word like Obama's “hope” poster. But as powerful and
useful they may be, they come with some setbacks. Unfortunately some of a posters biggest
constraints are its inability to reach people, considering its a physical object and it is usually seen
in person, there's no guarantee your audience will encounter it unless there are many of a said
poster printed, and accurately promoted. Regardless, political posters will continue to exist as
Works Cited
1. Arnon, Ben. “How the Obama ‘Hope’ Poster Reached a Tipping Point and Became a
Cultural Phenomenon: An Interview With the Artist Shepard Fairey.” The Huffington
www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-arnon/how-the-obama-hope-poster_b_133874.html.
2. Carroll, Laura Bolin. “Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis.”
3. Dimock, Michael. “How America Changed During Barack Obama's Presidency.” Pew
www.pewresearch.org/2017/01/10/how-america-changed-during-barack-obamas-preside
ncy/.
4. Outta Context. “We're Losing Our Competitive Edge.” Flickr, Yahoo!, 5 July 2010,
www.flickr.com/photos/outtacontext/4764160036/in/album-72157624426458536/.
5. Wells, Carol A. “Poster Politics: Can Art Influence Elections?” CNN, Cable News
www.cnn.com/style/article/political-posters-oped/index.html?gallery=%2F%2Fcdn.cnn.c
om%2f Connect%2Fdam%2Fassets%2F161101174626-electoral-posters-occupy.jpg.