One of the features of the 20th Century has been the use by Governments, of all political shades, of propaganda to maintain the morale of their peoples during times of crisis or to propagate an idea.

This is an example originally from 1939, (seen everywhere nowadays after being rediscovered as a fashion item)




Please add any particular examples which you find of importance, or even just ones you like.

From 1914;

Demonizing the enemy, an American poster from World War one;

We may all hate it, but Triumph des Willens was a masterpiece. Leni Riefenstahl was a genius.

...but so, thank God, was Charlie Chaplin.

From the 1940s

Men were never "procurable", of course:













EDIT: Can't make image appear. But what is interesting is the emphasis in many of these posters on promiscuous females being responsible for the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Men, it seems, were always the innocent victims. Mmm. No wonder femininity a la Dior - the New Look, virginity and cosy domesticity etc. - made such a come-back in the post-war world.

Those were the days before STDs were contracted from icebergs.

.... from icebergs?! ... I thought the publicity said it was from ignorance!

It appears than not only were women responsible for the spread of disease Temp, but that 'loose women' winked a lot and had shifty eyes also. I suppose that is how you could tell them apart from unloose women.......

Deleted.

Another couple of iconic propaganda posters:



and:

And to return to loose winking women:



Although of course here it's the guys who are being admonished for being loose .... with their talk: "Loose lips sink ships!" and all that.

Not quite propaganda as generally interpreted here, but perhaps the most famous piece in recent NZ history was an advert by the National Party in 1975 (commissioned by Hanna-Berbera) which showed Russian cossack dancing in a (successful) attempt to mock Labour's superannuation scheme.  (Since then, everyone has wished the scheme, a sort of compulsory savings scheme, had gone ahead.)

Triceratops wrote:

This is an example originally from 1939, (seen everywhere nowadays after being rediscovered as a fashion item)

Interestingly the Keep Calm and Carry On poster was rediscovered in more ways than one. It was designed in 1939 to be used in the UK in the event of a German landing. This of course never happened and so the posters weren't needed and were shelved.

It was only relatively recently (1990s?) that they were rediscovered and then became instantly popular with vendors of tea towels, tea caddies, cushions and other home furnishing items catering to the 'nostalgia' industry. It's a fascinating example of a phenomenon whereby nostalgia can be elicited by something which never really was. The general public during the Second World War simply never saw those posters.

WWII bone recycling drive. With food rationing, did people have all that many bones to donate?

And from Australia and New Zealand







And Japanese propaganda, aimed at Australian troops.

Churchill's "fight them on the beaches" broadcast;

Leaflet dropped by the Luftwaffe on the Allied armies at Dunkirk;

Recruitment poster for 5th SS (Wiking) Division;

No Comment;

That Nazi recruitment office is a really crappy pub called "Barfly" these days.

Islanddawn wrote:

WWII bone recycling drive. With food rationing, did people have all that many bones to donate?

Bones were not wanted by those collecting scraps for these bods:





One wonders, however, how one was meant to keep kitchen waste 'dry'. Pigswill has a high liquid content by definition.