"The Art of Persuasion" World War I Poster Project

Due Date: Tuesday March 4, 2008

Background: HUGE promotions in 20 major cities, expensive ads in over 10,000 magazines; millions of posters in every corner of the country. Nike vs. Reebok? Coke vs. Pepsi? Nope.

Try World War I.

In April 1917, when President Wilson announced he was sending U.S. soldiers to fight in Europe, he was afraid the people would not support his decision. To help sell the war, he set up the Committee on Public Information, which produced a bunch of posters for the war effort. The goals of these posters were to convince people to support the war by:

1. Buying “Liberty Bonds.” A bond is basically a loan that people that make to the government. When you buy a bond, the money goes to the government. In a few years, after the bond “matures,” you get more money than you paid for it.
2. Conserve food for the soldiers. People were encouraged not to waste food, and to limit their consumption of certain foods (wheat, meats).
3. Join the Armed Forces

Task: Imagine that you are alive during World War I, and are working for the Committee on Public Information. Your task is to design and draw a poster that will convince people to support the war effort. You can design a positive cartoon supporting your side, or a negative cartoon against the other side. Your poster should use pictures and words to get its message across. Listed below are websites where you can see samples of different posters.

http://www.firstworldwar.com/posters/usa.htm: 42 pages of posters from WWI.
http://www.authentichistory.com/images/ww1/ww1_posters/Poster21.html: 4 pages of some really cool posters.
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/sow-seeds/#documents: These posters relate to conserving food for the soldiers.
http://www.ouboces.org/tclc2002/projects/CoynBorhau/lesson01.htm Examples of actual posters created by students. I think you can do better!

Here's the rubric which will explain how you will be graded. If you have any questions, you can email me at MTessler@schools.nyc.gov. Good Luck!