---
title: 'Propaganda examples: 21 dated cases, 7 techniques'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/propaganda-examples/
description: Twenty-one dated propaganda examples, three for each of the seven classic techniques, from at least two sides each, with source and rights shown.
section: FRAME
---

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# Propaganda examples: 21 dated cases, 7 techniques

Twenty-one dated propaganda examples, three for each of the seven classic techniques, from at least two sides each, with source and rights shown.

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3. Propaganda examples: 21 dated cases, 7 techniques

> **Content note.** Some examples below caricature enemies, use the epithet "Hun", or draw opponents as grotesque or subhuman figures. They are shown as they were issued, from several sides, as evidence of how each technique was used. Showing an example is not endorsing it.

## Short answer

Propaganda examples are the posters, leaflets and print pieces issued to move an audience rather than only inform it. This page gives twenty-one dated examples from at least two sides for each of the seven classic techniques named by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis in 1937: name-calling, glittering generalities, transfer, testimonial, plain folks, card stacking and bandwagon. Each is tagged by what it does, not by who issued it.

## How to read these examples

A technique is a pattern in how a message is built, and the same pattern turns up in material from every country and period. This archive uses one working definition of propaganda for all of them ([how FRAME defines propaganda](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/working-definition/)) and the seven devices described in the IPA's bulletin ([the IPA's seven devices](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/ipa-seven-devices/)). Every example below names its issuer, date and country and links back to the technique's own page. The tag says what the picture is doing; it does not say that the cause was wrong, that the claim was false, or that one side used the method more than another. The collection holds many more examples of each technique: see the full list of [techniques](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/), the [posters hub](https://propagandaarchive.org/propaganda-posters/) and the [case studies](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/) for histories built on these items.

## Name-calling: a label in place of an argument

Name-calling attaches a hostile label to a person, group or idea so the audience reacts to the label instead of weighing a case.

![Tell That to the Marines! A civilian tears off his jacket beside a newspaper headlined Huns kill women and children](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/tell-that-to-the-marines-1918.jpg)

**United States, 1918: "Tell That to the Marines!"** James Montgomery Flagg's U.S. Marine Corps recruiting poster shows a civilian in shirtsleeves throwing down his hat beside a newspaper headlined "Huns kill women and children!" No place, date or act is named, only "Huns", and the man's anger is the whole argument for walking to the recruiting office. [Technique: name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/).

![Proletarians of All Countries, Unite! A red-clad worker with a rifle strides over a top-hatted capitalist and an officer](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/proletarians-of-all-countries-unite-xii-october-1929.jpg)

**Soviet Union, 1929: "Proletarians of All Countries, Unite!"** A State Publishing House poster for the twelfth anniversary of the October Revolution shows a red-clad worker with a rifle and a "Comintern" banner striding over two toppled figures, a top-hatted capitalist on a moneybag and a helmeted officer with an "S-D" badge. The opponents are drawn as grotesque, green-skinned types, and the title is the call to unite.

**Content note:** Caricatured, brutish depiction of Japanese soldiers in flames beneath a giant Chinese soldier. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) ![The more we fight, the stronger China: a giant soldier looms over two small Japanese soldiers in flames](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/the-more-we-fight-the-stronger-china-1940.jpg)

**China, 1940: "The more we fight, the stronger we grow."** A poster of the Chinese branch of the International Peace Campaign shows a giant red-printed Chinese soldier looming over two much smaller Japanese soldiers who claw at the air inside flames, drawn with distorted, brutish faces. Scale and caricature stand in for evidence: the opponent is drawn as small, distorted and already beaten.

## Glittering generalities: virtue words with nothing behind them

Glittering generalities are words of approved value, such as freedom, soundness or prosperity, used so the audience agrees before asking what is meant.

![Die 9. Kriegsanleihe: a farmer with a scythe in a harvest field under a rainbow](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/neunte-kriegsanleihe-baruch-strauss-1918.jpg)

**Germany, 1918: the ninth war loan.** A private bank's poster for the ninth German war loan shows a farmer with a scythe in a harvest field under a rainbow. Its rhyme claims that Germany has "eternal existence" and is "thoroughly sound": virtue words standing in for any figure on the state of the war economy in autumn 1918. [Technique: glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/).

![Down with Illiteracy: a stone bridge between a valley of factories and a village](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/ovanesov-down-with-illiteracy-north-caucasus-1925.jpg)

**Soviet Union, 1925: "Down with Illiteracy!"** A multilingual literacy poster from the North Caucasus shows a stone bridge between factories and a tractor on one side and a village and a man ploughing with oxen on the other, with two readers in the foreground. "Literacy is a bridge to prosperity" states a value-word promise without giving terms.

![Lend to Defend His Right to be Free: a boy rests his cheek on his hand beside a crane he is building](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-lend-to-defend-his-right-to-be-free-savings-certificates-1939.jpg)

**United Kingdom, 1939: "Lend to Defend His Right to be Free."** A National Savings poster by Tom Purvis shows a boy in a white shirt beside a Meccano-style crane he is building. The slogan attaches the abstract value "right to be free" to buying savings certificates and shows no detail of what the money buys.

## Transfer: borrowed prestige

Transfer carries the authority or feeling of a respected symbol, person or scene over to something else, so the audience extends its respect without examining the link.

![I Want You for U.S. Army: Uncle Sam points at the viewer](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/i-want-you-for-us-army-1917.jpg)

**United States, 1917: "I Want You for U.S. Army."** Uncle Sam points straight at the viewer. The poster offers no pay, terms or argument, only the national emblem addressing "you", and more than four million copies were printed in 1917 and 1918, according to the Library of Congress. [Technique: transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/).

![On les aura! A French infantryman turns, rifle in one hand and the other arm raised](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/on-les-aura-1916.jpg)

**France, 1916: "On les aura!"** Abel Faivre's poster for the Second National Defence Loan shows an infantryman shouting "We'll get them!" above a call to subscribe. The charging soldier's courage is transferred onto the act of buying a bond, so subscribing reads as joining the advance.

![Hero Huang Jiguang: a soldier in a fur cap lunges through smoke toward a bunker slit](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/hero-huang-jiguang-poster-china-1973.jpg)

**China, 1973: "Hero Huang Jiguang."** A soldier in a fur cap lunges through smoke and flying debris toward a bunker slit; the only text is the red title. One named martyr's image carries the whole message, so his prestige is lent to the viewer's sense of duty.

## Testimonial: a named voice vouches

A testimonial rests the claim on a respected, or at least recognised, person's endorsement instead of on evidence for the claim.

![The Prime Minister's advice: a text-only recruiting poster quoting a speech of 2 November 1915](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/prime-minister-advice-unmarried-men-1915.jpg)

**United Kingdom, 1915: "The Prime Minister's advice."** A Parliamentary Recruiting Committee poster sets a long passage from the Prime Minister's speech of 2 November 1915 under the heading, then addresses married men ("Enlist now") and single men. The office-holder's own words are the whole argument. [Technique: testimonial](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/testimonial/).

![Hindenburg's birthday present: a portrait of Field Marshal Hindenburg above a facsimile of his handwriting](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/hindenburg-geburtstagsgabe-1917.jpg)

**Germany, 1917: Hindenburg and the war loan.** A portrait of Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg sits above a facsimile of his handwriting: "Whoever subscribes to the war loan gives me the finest birthday present!" The ask rests on his personal vouch and signature, and the poster gives no figures about the loan.

![Pershing says: the Services of Supply share the success with us](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/pershing-says-sos-1918.jpg)

**United States, 1918: "Pershing says."** A morale poster for American Expeditionary Forces supply personnel quotes General John J. Pershing by name, saying the First Army appreciates the Services of Supply's "prompt response" to every demand. His authority as commander stands in for any accounting of what the S.O.S. actually delivered.

## Plain folks: the ordinary person as messenger

Plain folks presents the sender as an ordinary person, or shows ordinary people, so the audience trusts the message as one of its own.

![We'll lick 'em, just give us the stuff! A smiling bandaged GI holds a captured flag and a bayoneted rifle](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/well-lick-em-give-us-the-stuff-1943.jpg)

**United States, 1943: "We'll lick 'em, just give us the stuff!"** A U.S. Army poster shows a smiling, bandaged GI in jungle kit holding a captured Japanese flag, speaking in the first person. The ask for war production comes from an ordinary man who has already won. [Technique: plain folks](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/plain-folks/).

![Town: manufactured goods; Village: bread: a worker holds up a bolt of cloth beside a peasant woman with sacks of grain](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/kustodiev-city-manufactures-village-bread-1925.jpg)

**Soviet Union, 1925: "Town: manufactured goods. Village: bread."** Boris Kustodiev's poster shows a worker in a cap holding up a flower-patterned bolt of cloth and a peasant woman in a headscarf beside three sacks of grain. Two smiling ordinary people stand in for the whole town and the whole countryside.

![Clean rags, dirty rags, all are wanted: a smiling woman holds up a clean cloth and a dirty one](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/clean-rags-dirty-rags-all-are-wanted-1939.jpg)

**United Kingdom, 1939: "Clean Rags, Dirty Rags, All Are Wanted!"** An HMSO poster for the British government shows a smiling woman in a blue blouse holding up a clean cloth in one hand and a dirty one in the other. The ordinary housewife is the figure of the request, and the poster asks for rags without stating what they are used for.

## Card stacking: the one-sided case

Card stacking presents only the facts, figures or comparisons that favour one side and leaves out those that do not.

![The Real Issue: McKinley Was Right in 1896: a drawing sets a crowd outside the Mills of the United States against a figure at the door of the United States Mint](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/mckinley-real-issue-poster-1900.jpg)

**United States, 1900: "The Real Issue."** A pro-McKinley lithograph sets a crowd outside the "Mills of the United States" against a figure at the door of the "United States Mint", over McKinley's 1896 preference for opening the mills to American labour rather than the mints to the world's silver. [Technique: card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/).

![The Peoples of the USSR, before and now: a Central Asian scene of yurts beside factories and a tram](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/kustodiev-peoples-of-the-ussr-before-and-now-1926.jpg)

**Soviet Union, 1926: "The Peoples of the USSR, Before and Now."** Kustodiev's poster shows two Central Asian scenes, yurts and a camel at left and brick factories and a tram at right. Only the "before" and the "now" are shown, each with only what flatters its side of the comparison.

![Die beste Sparkasse: Kriegsanleihe! A hand holds out an upturned helmet into which banknotes are falling](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/beste-sparkasse-kriegsanleihe-1917.jpg)

**Germany, 1917: "The best savings bank: war loan!"** A hand holds out an upturned steel helmet into which banknotes are falling. The superlative comes with no rate, term or comparison.

## Bandwagon: everyone is already doing it

Bandwagon says that everyone is joining, or already has, so the audience feels pressure to join as well.

![Everyone to the library! A crowded reading room beneath a portrait of Lenin](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/vse-v-biblioteku-batrak-bednyak-kolkhoznik-1929.jpg)

**Soviet Union, 1929: "Everyone to the library!"** A State Publishing House poster shows a crowded reading room, with a peasant in a red shirt at the centre and children, women and men queuing behind him. The headline calls "everyone" to the library, and the room shows everyone already there. [Technique: bandwagon](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/bandwagon/).

![Let's fly this flag: a workplace poster tying a flag to a shared war-bond quota](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/lets-fly-this-flag-1943.jpg)

**United States, 1943: "Let's fly this flag."** A U.S. Treasury workplace poster ties raising a flag to a collective quota, everybody putting at least 10 percent of pay into war bonds. The individual is given no reason to buy beyond the fact that the whole shop is expected to.

![Nippon Mengoeasai Laoetan: aircraft and a column of warships under outlined block capitals](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/nippon-mengoeasai-laoetan-djawa-baroe-1943.jpg)

**Japan, 1943: "Nippon Mengoeasai Laoetan" (Japan controls the seas).** A poster reproduced in the Java magazine *Djawa Baroe*, issued by the Japanese military administration of Java, sets the slogan over a photograph of aircraft and a column of warships. The slogan is stated as settled fact, with momentum and massed ships offered as the proof.

## Where to go next

For every technique definition the archive uses, with examples from several sides, see [propaganda techniques](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/). The seven above were joined by later ones in the archive's list; for some of them, see [fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/), [scapegoating](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/scapegoating/), [identity fusion](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/identity-fusion/) and [semantic hijack](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/semantic-hijack/). For recent cases, see [then and now](https://propagandaarchive.org/then-and-now/). To browse by country, see [American propaganda posters](https://propagandaarchive.org/american-propaganda-posters/) and [Soviet and Russian propaganda posters](https://propagandaarchive.org/soviet-propaganda-posters/).

## Sources and rights

Every example above has an object page in the collection with its holding institution, a link to the original record, a verbatim transcription with a labelled translation, and the rights basis for hosting. Most come from the Library of Congress, the U.S. National Archives and Wikimedia Commons. The collection records the same fields for every example regardless of side.