---
title: Electoral poster AA, choose representatives carefully (Lao poster distributed in Vientiane)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/electoral-poster-aa-lao-vientiane-1957/
description: 'A Lao-language election poster with three photographs: a man in a sashed court-style uniform, a Buddha statue beside a standing uniformed figure'
section: Collection
---

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3. Electoral poster AA, choose representatives carefully

[![Electoral poster AA, choose representatives carefully, 1957 US poster: A Lao-language election poster with three photographs](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/electoral-poster-aa-lao-vientiane-1957.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/electoral-poster-aa-lao-vientiane-1957.jpg)

# Electoral poster AA, choose representatives carefully (Lao poster distributed in Vientiane)

A Lao-language election poster with three photographs: a man in a sashed court-style uniform, a Buddha statue beside a standing uniformed figure and a flag, and monks receiving alms from kneeling women and children. The text urges voters to think carefully before choosing representatives and warns that a wrong choice would destroy freedom, religion and the king. The tell is fear-appeal, a loss of freedom, religion and monarchy if voters choose wrongly, with transfer from the religious and royal imagery.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/) [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)

## Text on the object

Original (Lao) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
ການເລືອກເອົາຜູ້ແທນຣາສດອນເປັນສິ່ງສຳຄັນ ແລະເປັນ
ຈຸກອັນໃຫຍ່ຍິ່ງຂອງພວກເຮົາປະຊາຊົນ. ພວກເຮົາຄວນ ຄິດ
ໃຫ້ຄັກໆກ່ອນນະ

ຖ້າເຮົາເລືອກຜູ້ແທນຜິດ: ສິດເສຣີຂອງປະຊາຊົນລາວ ຈະຖືກທຳລາຍ
ສາສນາ ແລະພະມະຫາກະສັດຂອງລາວຈະສູນຫາຍ ຈົ່ງລະວັງແລະຄິດໃຫ້ຄັກໆ
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
Choosing the people's representatives is important and is a great [matter/duty] for us, the people. We should think carefully first.

If we choose the wrong representatives: the freedom of the Lao people will be destroyed; religion and the Lao king will be lost. Be careful and think carefully.
```

Two blocks of Lao script, above and below the photographs; the word rendered 'matter/duty' is uncertain.

[← U.S. Air Force Band concert (Chinese-English poster distributed in Taipei)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-air-force-band-concert-chinese-1957/) [Chitra Katha photo poster No. 12: Oak Ridge atomic energy for peace (Bengali photo poster distributed in Dacca) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/chitra-katha-12-oak-ridge-atomic-energy-bengali-dacca-1957/)

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- [Miniature of Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont, Les Passages d'outremer (BnF Fr. 5594, fol. 19r)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passages-doutremer-council-of-clermont-colombe-1474/) (France · 1474 · Testimonial, Fear appeal). Content note: Medieval religious imagery and a French text describing alleged killings and captivity of eastern Christians, as used to argue for the First Crusade; the text is shown as written.
- [Anacoana fut pendue sans raison (engraving in Le miroir de la cruelle et horrible tyrannie espagnole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anacoana-hanged-miroir-tyrannie-espagnole-1620/) (Dutch Republic · 1620 · Fear appeal, Name-calling). Content note: Engraving of a hanged, bare-breasted Taino woman, burning huts and people being killed by Spanish soldiers.
- [Der Warner (broadsheet lampoon on the Jesuits after Breitenfeld and Rain)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/der-warner-anti-jesuit-broadsheet-1632/) (Holy Roman Empire · 1632 · Scapegoating, Fear appeal)
- [Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sans-culottes-bread-of-liberty-gillray-1793/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Jan 12, 1793 · Fear appeal, Name-calling)
- [Proclamation de Sonthonax en créole, Cap-Français (Proclamation of Commissioner Sonthonax in Creole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sonthonax-proclamation-creole-1793/) (France · Aug 29, 1793 · Fear appeal, Scapegoating). Content note: Colonial-era proclamation on slavery and emancipation in Saint-Domingue; speaks of slaves, whips and 'Nègues' in period terms.
- [Gazette of the United States, "The Jeffersoniad" no. VIII, 14 August 1800](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gazette-us-jeffersoniad-1800/) (United States · Aug 14, 1800 · Name-calling, Fear appeal)
- [Tyrants Prostrate, Liberty Triumphant (pro-Polk cartoon on Dorr), 1844](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/tyrants-prostrate-liberty-triumphant-polk-1844/) (United States · 1844 · Name-calling, Fear appeal). Content note: Speech balloons contain anti-Catholic and nativist wording ('the ruins of Popery') in the mouths of the Whig figures, written by a Democratic cartoonist and shown unaltered.
- [Brolej Žemajčiaj! (Brothers Samogitians!): hand-painted broken-cross poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/brolej-zemajciaj-broken-cross-1862/) (Russian Empire · 1862 · Fear appeal, Transfer)