Religious Oppression poster 171f: Buddha and Christ caricatures (Thai poster distributed in Bangkok)
A yellow sheet reproducing two cartoons with Thai captions. In the upper one a grinning Buddha statue labelled in Cyrillic sits over a crowd of fat clergy and top-hatted men holding coins and cups. In the lower one a haloed Christ figure blesses a seated businessman on a strongbox. The captions present them as Communist cartoons attacking religion. The tell is card-stacking: two selected cartoons stand for a general Communist attitude to religion.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- September 15, 1954
- 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
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Religion, War and the military
- Event
- Cold War
- Source
- Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- Source
- U.S. National Archives (NARA), Record Group 306, Posters in Asia, Latin America, Middle East, retrieved October 4, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work; NARA RG 306)
U.S. Information Agency / Department of State, September 15, 1954. National Archives, Record Group 306 (NAID 6949077, 306-PPB-171f).
Text on the object
คำบรรยายอ่านว่า "กานํ้าชาจีน... พุทธศาสนาเป็นหลักค้ำจุนลัทธินายทุน เช่นเดียวกับศาสนาคริสเตียนและศาสนาอิสลามในที่อื่นๆ" คำบรรยายซึ่งโจมตีศาสนาคริสเตียนอ่านว่า "ผู้อุปถัมภ์การศาสนาซึ่งหลอกลวงคนที่ทำงานหนักและถูกกดขี่ให้พึ่งนิทานที่ว่าด้วยความสุขในโลกหน้า" [Cyrillic on halo of upper cartoon: БУДДА]
The caption reads: "The Chinese teapot... Buddhism is a mainstay supporting capitalism, just like the Christian and Islamic religions elsewhere." The caption attacking the Christian religion reads: "Religious patrons who deceive hard-working and oppressed people into relying on tales of happiness in the next world." [Cyrillic on halo of upper cartoon: BUDDHA]
Both captions are Thai framings of the original cartoon captions; the original-language captions of the cartoons are not on the sheet.
