Elections poster, ballot box and map of Laos (Lao, distributed in Laos)
A Lao-language poster in yellow and black. A white map of Laos carries a hand dropping a ballot into a padlocked ballot box, with Lao headline text above and a banner below. By NARA's title the subject is elections. It addresses voting in general and names no party or candidate. The tell is glittering generalities: an abstract civic duty and freedom are attached to the national map and the act of voting.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- March 6, 1957
- Period
- Cold War
- Made by
- U.S. Information Agency (predecessor: State Department International Information and Educational Exchange Program), Propaganda Posters Distributed in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East series
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Eisenhower Administration
- Leader
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
- Audience
- Foreign public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Theme
- Elections and party politics
- Event
- Cold War
- Source
- Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- Source
- U.S. National Archives (NARA), RG 306, Propaganda Posters Distributed in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, retrieved October 4, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work; NARA RG 306)
U.S. Information Agency / Department of State, March 6, 1957. National Archives, Record Group 306 (NAID 6949004, 306-PPB-132).
Text on the object
[Lao script: headline across the top; the words on the map above the ballot hand and on the ballot box; the country name on the map; and a white-on-black banner at the foot. Not reliably legible at the available image resolution]
Approximate and unverified: headline about performing your duty; words by the hand and box refer to voting (ballot) and the ballot box; the map reads 'Laos'; the banner appears to say that you bear responsibility for your own freedom.
Lao text not transcribed verbatim; no imprint printed.
