"Your Chums Are Fighting, Why Aren't You?"

This is a Canadian propaganda poster from the first World War. I thought it was really interesting because the artwork was rather neat and the message was so direct.


The red and black and blue colours that were used on the poster were rather interesting. I felt that in the colours were in sync with the perceptions people have about war. The black silhouetted soldiers create a sense of anonymity as to who is serving. This could almost allow the person viewing the poster to imagine someone in the silhouette's places. The black ground does this same thing as well. The red colour I thought could serve to add a severeness to it, almost the thoughts of blood, but victory as well. The blue wind added interest and drew in the eye.


The message was really short, crisp and frank. I think it's simplicity would have made it stick to someone's mind, making it a handy tool to guilt people into being soldiers. If I would place a guess as to when about this poster was released I'd said pretty close to before or circonscription was in place.