--- title: 'Propaganda posters: examples by technique and era' url: https://propagandaarchive.org/propaganda-posters/ description: Propaganda posters from the US, Britain, Germany, the USSR, China and others, tagged by technique, with source and rights shown. One method for all sides. section: FRAME --- ![Illustration: a dossier collage of an evidence wall of pinned propaganda posters, leaflets and printed matter from many eras, with contact sheets and catalog labels.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/hero-collection.jpg) Collection # Propaganda posters: examples by technique and era Propaganda posters from the US, Britain, Germany, the USSR, China and others, tagged by technique, with source and rights shown. One method for all sides. 1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/) 2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/) 3. Propaganda posters: examples by technique and era > **Content note.** Propaganda posters include racial and religious caricature, atrocity claims and appeals to hatred, from every side. They are shown here as they were issued, as evidence of what was said to the public at the time. Showing a poster is not endorsing it. ## What is a propaganda poster? A propaganda poster is a printed sheet, usually a single image with a short line of text, issued to move a mass audience toward an action or a belief: enlist, buy a bond, save fuel, report a neighbour, vote, hate an enemy, trust a leader. This archive uses one working definition for every poster, whoever issued it ([how FRAME defines propaganda](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/working-definition/)). Under it, a poster that raises money for a war, a public-health poster and a party slogan are all examined with the same questions: who issued it, who it was aimed at, what it asked, and which persuasion technique does the work. Posters are one kind of propaganda object among several. The collection also holds leaflets, newspaper pages, cartoons, banknotes, stamps, photographs and broadcasts, and each of those has its own page or filter. This page is the entry point for posters: how to read them, how the same few techniques recur across sides and decades, and a browsable set of posters with their sources and rights shown. ## Why the same techniques turn up on every side A reader who looks at enough posters from different countries notices that the designs repeat even when the politics do not. The seven devices named by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis in 1937 (name-calling, glittering generalities, transfer, testimonial, plain folks, card stacking and bandwagon) are a useful starting list, and this archive's [technique pages](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/) extend it with later ones such as fear appeal, scapegoating and identity fusion. The point of the tags is method, not blame. A technique is tagged the same way on a British recruiting poster, a Soviet mobilisation sheet and a US government poster, and the tag says what the picture is doing, not whether its cause was right or its claims true. The posters below were chosen because each shows one technique clearly and because, between them, they come from different countries, wars and political systems. They are examples, not a ranking: the collection holds many more from each side, and the archive makes no claim that any side's output is fully covered. ## Examples, by technique ### Transfer: the national symbol that asks the question ![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) James Montgomery Flagg's 1917 recruiting poster shows Uncle Sam pointing straight at the viewer under the words "I Want You for U.S. Army". It offers no pay, terms of service or argument, only the national emblem addressing "you". That is transfer: the standing of the nation stands in for a case about why this person should enlist. Flagg first drew the image as a 1916 magazine cover under the heading "What Are You Doing for Preparedness?", and the Library of Congress record says more than four million copies were printed in 1917 and 1918. The pointing, direct-address composition follows an earlier British image of Lord Kitchener. [Read the technique: transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/). ### Glittering generalities and fear: a German war-loan poster ![Helft uns siegen! Zeichnet die Kriegsanleihe: a steel-helmeted German soldier looks out of the frame](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/helft-uns-siegen-1917.jpg) War-bond posters were the main fundraising genre of the First World War on every side. This 1917 German poster, by Fritz Erler, shows a steel-helmeted infantryman beneath the line "Help us win! Subscribe to the war loan." The soldier's exhausted resolve is transferred onto the request to buy bonds, and "winning" is a virtue word the buyer is not asked to weigh against cost or odds. The entry is tagged with the same techniques as the American poster above, for the same reasons. [Read the technique: glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/). ### Name-calling and scapegoating: a Soviet mobilisation poster ![Krepi revolyutsionnyi front zashchity SSSR: giant marching workers above small figures in clerical dress and top hats](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/krepi-revolyutsionnyi-front-zashchity-sssr-1928.jpg) A Soviet poster dated 1928 calls on viewers to strengthen the revolutionary front for the defence of the USSR. Giant red workers march across the upper two-thirds of the sheet. Beneath them, small and pale, a crowd of bloated figures in a bishop's mitre, a priest's hat and top hats scatters at their feet. It belongs to the 1927 to 1928 "war scare" period, when Soviet publications urged defence against foreign powers and internal opponents. The poster names no single enemy; it groups clergy and figures in top hats as one, which is the name-calling and scapegoating tell. It is shown whole, as printed, with its depiction of religious dress as a mark of the enemy. [Read the technique: name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/) and [scapegoating](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/scapegoating/). ### Transfer by authority: a British poster held back ![Keep Calm and Carry On: the royal crown over the slogan](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/keep-calm-and-carry-on-1939.jpg) The best-known British poster of 1939 was never put on general display. It was the third of three Ministry of Information "Home Publicity" posters, designed between 27 June and 6 July 1939 and printed in almost 2.5 million copies, then held back for a crisis such as heavy bombing. Its only image is the royal crown, which lends the instruction the authority of the Crown rather than argument or information. The poster became widely known only after a copy turned up in a Northumberland bookshop in 2000, and later slogan merchandise redraws it. This is a government poster openly attributed to its issuer. [Read the technique: transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/). ### Bandwagon: unanimity as the argument ![Unite, strive for even greater victories: citizens in work and regional dress walk toward the viewer beneath a portrait of Mao](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/unite-for-greater-victories-poster-china-1974.jpg) A Shanghai poster of 1974 shows citizens in army, worker and cadre dress, and in regional costumes, striding toward the viewer across the forecourt of a state building, many holding small red books. A framed portrait of Mao and the national emblem hang on the facade, and the caption calls for unity for "even greater victories". Every group walks one way under one portrait: unanimity is the picture's argument, which is the bandwagon tell. The copy in this archive is photographed in a museum display case, so there is glare at upper left. [Read the technique: bandwagon](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/bandwagon/). ### Fear appeal and contrast: a US government poster abroad ![Communism or Freedom: a two-panel Thai-language poster pairing a forced-labour scene with a free-farming scene](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/communism-or-freedom-thai-forced-labor-1966.jpg) A Thai-language poster of about 1966, catalogued by the Library of Congress from a transfer of United States Information Agency material, pairs two scenes under the headline "Communism or Freedom". On the left, men carry baskets under the eye of uniformed guards, and the caption says communists force the people to work like slaves. On the right, villagers farm and build a house, and the caption says Thai people are free to choose their work. Neither caption on the sheet cites a source for its claim; the same test applies to every poster on this page. The date is the Library's estimate, and the USIA attribution rests on its transfer note rather than a credit line on the poster. [Read the technique: fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/). ## What a propaganda poster is not Not every striking poster is propaganda under this archive's definition, and not every propaganda poster lies. A poster can be accurate and still be propaganda if it is built to move rather than inform; a poster can be false without being the work of a state. The archive records the issuer, the audience and the stated purpose of each item so a reader can judge. Material issued openly by a named government is treated as open propaganda; material that hides or blurs its sponsor is flagged as such in the same terms for every side. See [propaganda, misinformation and disinformation](https://propagandaarchive.org/learn/propaganda-misinformation-disinformation/) for how these terms differ. ## How to analyse a propaganda poster Five questions cover most posters, and they are the ones this archive asks of every item. 1. **Who issued it?** A named ministry, a party, a commercial printer or an anonymous hand. The source line on each object page says where the scan comes from. 2. **Who was it for?** The home public, an occupied population, soldiers or a foreign audience. The same poster means different things in different hands. 3. **What does it ask?** Enlist, buy, comply, hate, vote, trust. The ask is usually one verb. 4. **Which technique carries it?** Look for a borrowed symbol, an enemy drawn smaller or uglier, a virtue word with no content, a crowd walking one way. 5. **What does the sheet not say?** Costs, terms, evidence, the other side's case. The [techniques index](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/) defines each device with examples from several sides, and the [Learn section](https://propagandaarchive.org/learn/) covers why these devices work on audiences. ## Browse propaganda posters by era The collection's posters are grouped by period. Each era page below discusses who made the posters, how the issuing institutions worked, and which techniques recur: - **[WW1 propaganda posters](https://propagandaarchive.org/ww1-propaganda-posters/)**: war-bond, recruiting and relief posters from the United States, Britain, Germany, Austria-Hungary, France and Russia. - **[WW2 propaganda posters](https://propagandaarchive.org/ww2-propaganda-posters/)**: Allied, Axis and Soviet posters, radio and film. - **[American propaganda posters](https://propagandaarchive.org/american-propaganda-posters/)**: United States posters from nineteenth-century campaigns through the Cold War, including official, party, company and dissenting issuers. - **[Soviet and Russian propaganda posters](https://propagandaarchive.org/soviet-propaganda-posters/)**: posters from the late Russian Empire, the Provisional Government, the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation, including posters made outside state institutions. - **[Cold War propaganda posters](https://propagandaarchive.org/cold-war-propaganda-posters/)**: United States, Soviet and allied posters, radio and leaflets from 1947 to 1991. For worked examples of each classic technique from several sides, see [propaganda examples](https://propagandaarchive.org/propaganda-examples/). For every object, not only posters, use the [full collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/), which can be filtered by technique, era, country and medium. ## Sources and rights Every poster shown or listed on this page has its own object page with the holding institution, a link to the original record and the rights basis for hosting it. Most of the posters in this archive come from public-domain holdings such as the Library of Congress, the U.S. National Archives and Wikimedia Commons; where a rights statement is limited or borderline, the object page says so. Transcriptions of poster text are verbatim, and translations are labelled as such. ## Posters in the collection Showing 60 of 777 objects. [Filter the whole collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/). - ['Federal-Abolition-Whig Trap, to Catch Voters In', New Orleans broadside, 1840](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anti-whig-log-cabin-trap-broadside-new-orleans-1840/) (United States · 1840 · Name-calling) - ['National Democratic Republican Nomination' broadside for Van Buren and Johnson, 1840](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/van-buren-johnson-democratic-nomination-broadside-1840/) (United States · 1840 · Transfer, Glittering generalities). Content note: Battle scenes and text from the War of 1812 use period wording for Native American adversaries ('Indians', 'Indian chief'). - ["The Champions of Freedom" Frémont and Dayton banner (Buffalo, 1856)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/fremont-dayton-champions-of-freedom-1856/) (United States · 1856 · Glittering generalities, Transfer) - [James Buchanan campaign banner (Baker & Godwin, 1856)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/buchanan-democratic-banner-1856/) (United States · Jun 1856 · Transfer) - [Millard Fillmore campaign banner (Baker & Godwin, 1856)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/fillmore-american-banner-1856/) (United States · Jul 1856 · Transfer) - ["Col. Fremont Planting the American Standard" (Baker & Godwin, 1856)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/fremont-planting-standard-1856/) (United States · Jul 1856 · Transfer) - [Brolej Žemajčiaj! (Brothers Samogitians!): hand-painted broken-cross poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/brolej-zemajciaj-broken-cross-1862/) (Russian Empire · 1862 · Fear appeal, Transfer) - [God Grant Us Peace / We Shall See More Rads 'Bottled Up' in November](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/god-grant-us-peace-seymour-rads-1868/) (United States · 1868 · Name-calling) - [The Republican chart. The nation's choice in war and peace Ulysses S. Grant](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/republican-chart-grant-1872/) (United States · 1872 · Glittering generalities, Transfer) - [The banner that boosted Blaine and locked the Logan link](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/banner-boosted-blaine-1884/) (United States · 1884 · Bandwagon, Plain folks) - [De Vlamingen aan de Negers van den Congo (The Flemings to the Negroes of the Congo)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/de-vlamingen-aan-de-negers-van-den-congo-1885/) (Belgium · 1885 · Scapegoating) - [Public office is a public trust: Democratic campaign banner no. 1](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/public-office-is-a-public-trust-banner-1888/) (United States · 1888 · Glittering generalities, Transfer) - [Protection to home industry 1888](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/protection-home-industry-1888/) (United States · Aug 18, 1888 · Transfer, Plain folks) - [Tariff reform. Cleveland and Thurman](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/tariff-reform-cleveland-thurman-1888/) (United States · Sep 17, 1888 · Glittering generalities, Transfer) - [Wakamba's: die größten Feinde Stanley's und Emin Pascha's (show poster, c. 1890)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/wakamba-stanley-emin-show-poster-1890/) (German Empire · 1890 · Transfer). Content note: Colonial-era human-display show poster billing East African performers as 'enemies' of European explorers - [For President Grover Cleveland, for Vice-President Adlai E. Stevenson](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cleveland-stevenson-1892/) (United States · 1892 · Glittering generalities, Transfer) - [劉永福懸賞抓拿日本奸細告示 (Liu Yongfu's notice offering rewards for capturing Japanese spies), Taiwan](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/liu-yongfu-reward-notice-japanese-spies-1895/) (Qing China · 1895 · Name-calling, Fear appeal) - [Kolonial-Ausstellung, Gruppe XXIII, Berliner Gewerbe-Ausstellung 1896](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/berlin-kolonialausstellung-plakat-1896/) (German Empire · 1896 · Transfer) - [Democratic nominees Bryan and Sewall broadside](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bryan-sewall-unlimited-coinage-broadside-1896/) (United States · 1896 · Transfer) - ['Protection and sound money' shield placard](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/mckinley-hobart-protection-sound-money-shield-1896/) (United States · 1896 · Transfer) - [The Issue - 1900. Liberty. Justice. Humanity. W. J. Bryan](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bryan-issue-1900-liberty-justice-humanity-poster-1900/) (United States · 1900 · Glittering generalities, Transfer, Fear appeal) - [Wm. McKinley, Prosperity](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/mckinley-prosperity-lithograph-1900/) (United States · 1900 · Transfer, Glittering generalities) - [The Real Issue: McKinley Was Right in 1896](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/mckinley-real-issue-poster-1900/) (United States · 1900 · Card stacking) - [McKinley Was Right (poster: 1896 poverty, 1900 prosperity)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/mckinley-was-right-poster-1900/) (United States · 1900 · Card stacking, Glittering generalities) - [Ring Again the Liberty Bell in 1900 (Bryan poster)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ring-liberty-bell-1900/) (United States · 1900 · Transfer, Glittering generalities) - [Sífilis: Curación absoluta y radical en el Sanatorio para sifilíticos (Syphilis: Absolute and Radical Cure at the Sanatorium for Syphilitics)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sifilis-sanatorio-abreu-1900/) (Spain · 1900 · Fear appeal) - [Anonymous Cantonese placard warning sedan-chair bearers not to carry Alice Roosevelt (Canton, 1905 boycott)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/canton-chair-bearers-poster-boycott-1905/) (Qing China · 1905 · Fear appeal) - [Fidèles compagnons du buveur : Misère & Mort (The Drinker's Faithful Companions: Misery and Death)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/misere-et-mort-anti-alcohol-1905/) (France · 1905 · Fear appeal) - [Deutsche Mütter, schützt Eure Kinder vor der Tuberkulose (German Mothers, Protect Your Children from Tuberculosis)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/deutsche-mutter-tuberkulose-1906/) (German Empire · 1906 · Fear appeal) - [Irrévocablement. Ouverture 15 avril. Marseille. Exposition coloniale (1906)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/marseille-exposition-coloniale-irrevocablement-1906/) (France · 1906 · Card stacking) - [Negresse blanche / The white negress / Die weisse Negerin: Amanoua Kpapo (show poster, c. 1910)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/amanoua-kpapo-white-negress-poster-c1910/) (German Empire · 1910 · Name-calling). Content note: Racial show poster: uses the word 'negress' and 'Negerin' and caricatured, dehumanising faces of Black figures as billing for a human-display act - [Buenos Aires 1910: Esposizioni Internazionali, Partecipazione ufficiale dell'Italia (Buenos Aires 1910: International Expositions, Official Participation of Italy)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/buenos-aires-1910-italian-participation-1910/) (Kingdom of Italy · 1910 · Transfer). Content note: Allegorical exhibition poster with a partly bare-breasted female figure. - [Torturing Women in Prison. Vote Against the Government](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/torturing-women-in-prison-wspu-1910/) (United Kingdom · 1910 · Name-calling) - [Roosevelt in Africa (Selig film advertisement, The Moving Picture World, 30 April 1910)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/roosevelt-africa-hunt-film-poster-1910/) (United States · Apr 30, 1910 · Transfer, Bandwagon) - [Tercer censo nacional de la República Argentina, 1 June 1914 (allegorical census poster)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/argentina-censo-1914/) (Argentina · Jun 1, 1914 · Transfer) - [Försvaret främst (Defence first), Swedish election poster by Gunnar Widholm, 1914](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/forsvaret-framst-widholm-1914/) (Sweden · 1914 · Fear appeal, Transfer) - [यह सिपाही हिन्दुस्तान की हिफ़ाज़त कर रहा है (This Soldier Is Defending India), Indian Army recruiting poster, Bombay](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/indian-army-hindi-recruiting-poster-1914/) (British India · 1914 · Transfer) - [Au Peuple Belge! (von Emmich proclamation, with Allied caption strip)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/emmich-proclamation-au-peuple-belge-1914/) (German Empire · Aug 4, 1914 · Fear appeal, Transfer) - [Aux Femmes Françaises (To French Women) — government appeal, 6 August 1914](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/aux-femmes-francaises-viviani-1914/) (France · Aug 6, 1914 · Glittering generalities, Card stacking) - [Australia has promised Britain 50,000 more men; will you help us keep that promise](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/australia-50000-more-men-1915/) (Australia · 1915 · Bandwagon, Transfer) - ['Get a move on old man!' (Harry J. Weston, Sydney)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/australia-get-a-move-on-1915/) (Australia · 1915 · Plain folks) - [Australia's imperishable record. Australians! The empire needs you (Farmer's, Sydney)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/australias-imperishable-record-1915/) (Australia · 1915 · Testimonial, Glittering generalities) - [Banania "y'a bon" (advertising poster, Paris, 1915)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/banania-y-a-bon-poster-1915/) (France · 1915 · Transfer). Content note: Racialised caricature of a Black colonial soldier, with the pidgin slogan 'y'a bon'. - [Belgian Red Cross (donations poster, London)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/belgian-red-cross-buchel-1915/) (Belgium · 1915 · Transfer) - ["I hear they want more Bovril. My place is at the front" (Bovril poster, 1915)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bovril-my-place-is-at-the-front-1915/) (United Kingdom · 1915 · Transfer) - [3,000,000 Belgians are destitute in Belgium (Hassall)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/britain-belgians-destitute-1915/) (United Kingdom · 1915 · Transfer) - [Can I Afford to Pay for Freedom (Canadian Patriotic Fund)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/can-i-afford-canadian-patriotic-fund-1915/) (Canada · 1915 · Fear appeal, Glittering generalities) - [Canadiens-Français, enrolez-vous! Reformez les régiments de Voltigeurs de Salaberry (Canada)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/canadiens-francais-enrolez-vous-salaberry-1915/) (Canada · 1915 · Transfer, Fear appeal) - [Cold-Blooded Murder! Remember Germany's Crowning Infamy](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cold-blooded-murder-1915/) (United Kingdom · 1915 · Card stacking, Name-calling, Fear appeal) - [Daddy, what did YOU do in the Great War?](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/daddy-what-did-you-do-1915/) (United Kingdom · 1915 · Fear appeal) - [The Empire Needs Men! The Overseas States All Answer the Call](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/empire-needs-men-lions-1915/) (United Kingdom · 1915 · Bandwagon, Transfer) - [Enlist](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/enlist-lusitania-1915/) (United States · 1915 · Fear appeal). Content note: A mother and infant drowning in the Lusitania sinking. - [Gli autori dell'ecatombe Europea davanti alla Civiltà (The authors of the European hecatomb before Civilisation)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gli-autori-ecatombe-europea-ducci-1915/) (Kingdom of Italy · 1915 · Name-calling, Glittering generalities). Content note: Chromolithograph showing corpses on a battlefield, a bloodied sword and burning ruins, with four rulers of the Central Powers shown as the cause; wartime enemy-leader caricature. - [Ireland & Poland (recruiting appeal quoting the Rev. William P. Burke)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ireland-and-poland-1915/) (United Kingdom · 1915 · Fear appeal, Testimonial) - [Mr. John Dillon, M.P., on recruiting in Ireland. Join an Irish regiment to-day](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/john-dillon-on-recruiting-in-ireland-1915/) (United Kingdom · 1915 · Testimonial, Semantic hijacking) - [The Prime Minister's Advice to the Young Unmarried Men and Pledge to Married Men](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/prime-minister-advice-unmarried-men-1915/) (United Kingdom · 1915 · Testimonial) - [Remember Belgium — Enlist To-Day](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/remember-belgium-1915/) (United Kingdom · 1915 · Fear appeal, Scapegoating, Transfer) - [The "Scrap of Paper": Signatures and Seals of the 1839 Treaty, Enlist To-Day](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/scrap-of-paper-treaty-prc-1915/) (United Kingdom · 1915 · Transfer, Glittering generalities) - [Take Up the Sword of Justice. Join Now](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/take-up-the-sword-of-justice-1915/) (United Kingdom · 1915 · Transfer, Glittering generalities) - [We will uphold the priceless gem of liberty. Shall we help to crush tyranny? (Canadian recruiting poster)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/we-will-uphold-priceless-gem-of-liberty-canada-1915/) (Canada · 1915 · Glittering generalities, Transfer)