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| The Uncle Sam Range (1876) Advertising Image by Schumacher & Ettlinger, New York |
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Empire Marketing Board - 'East African Transport Old Style' and 'East African Transport New style' by Adrian Allinson,
from the 'Colonial Progress Brings Home Prosperity' series of posters; 60 x 40 ins, displayed December 1930- January 1931; Waterlow and Sons Ltd |
All of these posters were created as advertisements in order to promote a product, or an ideal, to the wealthy and powerful of western society. Created decades apart these posters, as to be expected, have many differences; however it also possible to find many similarities between them, in terms of the ideas they contain and the methods through which they are promoting them.
'The Uncle Sam Range' poster is an advertisement for a cooker that was mass produced as a print, in the 19th century. The poster uses patriotism and nationalist pride in order to promote their product to the aspirational middle class or upper classes of America. This is evident in the presence of traditional American national imagery such as the stars and stripes adorning the room, and the eagle sitting on 'Uncle Sam's' shoulder, who himself is a personification of the American dream. There is also displays of American progression as the clock marks their 100 years of independence, which is emphasised through the centenary building we can see through the window. 'Dixie', 'West' and 'New England', represented as children sitting at 'Uncle Sam's' table is also a celebration of America's new found unity and the end of the civil war. The 'East African Transport' advertisements similarly use ideas of progression in order to promote a positive view of colonialism. This would have been aimed at, similarly to the 'Uncle Sam' advertisement', the wealthy in society as these would be considered potential investors. The promotion of these positive affects of colonialism is achieved through the juxtaposition of the two images - the first showing life in the colonies before and the second demonstrating the progression after being colonised with the presence of technology, such as cars, roads and boats. The natives of these colonies also seemed to have been stripped of their culture, and 'civilised', the second image showing them without their traditional dress.
In evaluation of the aesthetics of these advertisements and how effectively, therefore, they are communicating with their respective audiences, the decades between them may become increasingly apparent. The first poster, 'The Uncle Sam Range', is adorned with symbols of nationalism and wealth in an effort to convey affluence and to celebrate American progression. As a consequence, however, the image is overly garish and busy, and the product, a cooker, has become second to this message of patriotism. The use of different sized, style and coloured typefaces also adds to the confusion and lack of sophistication of the image. The 'East African' posters, on the other hand, are a lot more subtle and demure in their methods of communication. The advertisements use a attractive art deco style, which would have been popular at the time, and an earthy colour palette to reflect the 'savage' and 'exotic' nature of these images location. The text is clear and concise, similarly to the construction and composition of the images.
Through these advertisements we can learn about the periods in which they were created. 'The Uncle Sam Range' poster, for example, was created post civil war and during a time in which America was developing into one of the leading competing nations in the world, hence the emphasis and use of American pride in order to promote the cooker. The "East African Transport' posters, on the other hand, show a time in which colonialism was becoming increasingly unpopular. This is hence the 'Empire Marketing board' made these posters in order to promote intra-empire trade and to boost empire sentiment. Both of these propaganda campaigns also tell us about the presence of similar social and cultural issues across both of these periods. Both of them use male figures, being 'Uncle Sam' and the white man in the 'East African Transport' second image, to convey power, strength and wealth, therefore demonstrating the patriarchal societies in which both of these advertisements were produced. They also both similarly promote white supremacy and dehumanise black people, as in the 'Uncle Sam' poster there is a black slave boy working the cooker and in the 'East African Transport' posters the 'natives' of these colonies rarely have their faces showing, and if they do their features seem aggressive and undefined.
In conclusion these posters may be different in the level of understanding they demonstrate concerning visual communication and image making; however they share many of the same ideals in terms of what they are using to promote their products and how they aim to go about this. They also show us that, despite being decades apart and from different countries, there are many similarities in terms of the cultural and social issues that were present in their respective societies.
