Malaya Today, Picture Set D, no. 7: Song and dance in the canteen (English photo poster distributed in Malaya)
A crowded circle of smiling soldiers in khaki clap and watch as one man dances in the centre of a canteen, one playing a mouth organ. The caption names the scene. The tell is plain-folks: the forces are shown as relaxed, cheerful ordinary men, an everyday image used to make the army approachable.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- September 3, 1953
- Period
- Cold War
- Made by
- U.S. Information Agency (predecessor: State Department International Information and Educational Exchange Program), Propaganda Posters Distributed in Asia series
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Eisenhower Administration
- Leader
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
- Audience
- Foreign public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- War and the military, Empire and colonialism
- Event
- Cold War
- Source
- Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- Source
- U.S. National Archives (NARA), Record Group 306, Propaganda Posters Distributed in Asia, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work; NARA RG 306)
U.S. Information Agency / Department of State, September 3, 1953. National Archives, Record Group 306 (NAID 5729999, 306-PPA-98).
Text on the object
MALAYA TODAY PICTURE SET "D" FEDERATION ARMED FORCES SONG AND DANCE IN THE CANTEEN [7]
Sheet number appears in a circle at lower right.
