Daniel Adams

Alexander-Blythe

AP English III-7

4 October 2017

Propaganda Reflection

All of the propaganda I chose to analyze was effective at conveying its message to a

desired audience. For each piece, I conducted research to determine the historical context and

exigence of the piece. I also researched the effects of each specific piece I analyzed. For

example, I researched the evacuations of British citizens when researching the British World

War II poster in order to better understand the reasons for the evacuations and why evacuating

the children was so difficult for many families. The United States World War II piece was not as

specific and required more research to determine the specific context of that poster. The two

most recent campaigns that I analyzed, Dumb Ways to Die and Save the Food, both had the most

information available specifically about them in the form of articles, interviews, and additional

media content. For these campaigns, I was able to learn a lot through articles and see the effects

of the propaganda in the statistics presented. For example, an article by The Best of Global

Digital Marketing stated that there had been a nearly 30% reduction in near-miss accidents for

Metro Melbourne after the Dumb Ways to Die campaign, suggesting that the propaganda was

effective.

To analyze each piece, I looked at the speaker, primary and secondary audiences,

purpose, and strategies used. I found that each piece utilized different strategies in order to better
reach the intended audience. The British World War II poster, for example, used symbols of

danger and large, direct wording in order to create fear in the audience, while Dumb Ways to Die

used a fun, upbeat tone in order to reach children and teenagers in todays world. Analyzing the

more general propaganda pieces, such as the United States World War II poster, was more

challenging as less specific information was available about them and they appealed to a larger

audience. Each piece of propaganda was unique and reached a different target audience. Dumb

Ways to Die and the British World War II poster both had children as a primary audience while

the US World War II poster and Save the Food both reached out to Americans in general. Across

multiple countries and multiple time periods, one thing that remains constant is the use of

fallacies and rhetorical strategies to present information in a way that it calls the audience to

action.
 Works Cited

Bread Ad - Save the Food. Digital image. MultiVu. N.p., 20 Apr. 2016. Web.

Clouting, Laura. "The Evacuated Children Of The Second World War." Imperial War Museums.

N.p., 05 Sept. 2014. Web.

Leave This to Us Sonny. Digital image. Imperial War Museums. N.p., n.d. Web.

Megaphone Cartoon. Digital image. WordPress. N.p., n.d. Web.

Parliament Bridge. Digital image. London and Partners. N.p., n.d. Web.

"Reducing Food Waste." AdCouncil. N.p., n.d. Web.

Roper, Peter. "Case Study: Metro Trains' Dumb Ways to Die." Best Marketing. N.p., n.d. Web.

"Take A Closer Look: America Goes to War." The National WWII Museum. N.p., n.d. Web.

ThebusofdoomFSX. Metro Trains and V/Line at Kensington: Melbourne Trains. Digital image.

YouTube. N.p., 29 Nov. 2011. Web.

U.S. Capitol. Digital image. Shutterstock. N.p., n.d. Web.

US WWII Poster. Digital image. Vintage Everyday. N.p., 23 Feb. 2014. Web.

Veggies. Digital image. Trichilo Foods. N.p., n.d. Web.