The Uncle Sam Range (1876) Advertising Image by Schumacher & Ettlinger, New York
Poster by Savile Lumley (1915)
The purpose of the first image by Schumacher and Ettlinger was to advertise the range of cookers, 'The Uncle Sam's Range,' although the advert seems to focus more on promoting American wealth and status. One of the main features of the poster is the character Uncle Sam who has purposely been situated in the centre of the image, used to represent America and promote an all American brand.
The clock in the image shows two dates, 1776 and 1876, a difference of one hundred years, celebrating Independence Day and how far America has come since they became independent.
Although the purpose of the advert is to advertise the cooker, the advert also advertises what the cooker represents which is a wealthy, lavish, dream lifestyle, which in turn represents the American dream.
The poster hold many connotations, including the eagle which symbolises America, the woman servant, again representing wealth and possibly slavery and then the list which is being read by the world. The list includes many different countries like China and Ireland and lists stereotypical foods from these countries, the list is very generic and takes the mic out of other countries, for example listing the China eat grasshoppers. This is clearly aimed at an American audience as it advertises and glorifies an American dream lifestyle and may actually offend other international audiences at the same time.
The type used on the advertisement is a traditional Western, saloon bar typeface, something which may be used in cowboy films and again glamorises American history.
Audiences of a lower class may be the target of this advertisement as this lifestyle is something they are likely to aspire to and also the ones who may be able to afford 'The Uncle Sam Range' cookers.
Likewise to the first image, the second image by Savile Lumley is intended to advertise a kind of lifestyle to it's audience. This time the poster is advertising the First World War, trying to persuade people to join the army. It uses a guilt persuasion with the tag line 'Daddy, what did you do in the war?' Using a guilt technique to insinuate that if you don't go to war you have nothing to be proud of or no story to tell.
The poster is targeted generally at men, middle class, working men would go anyway because they would gain more money by going to War, whereas middle class men already have stable money and family and therefore need persuaded to join up.
The first image promises and aspirational lifestyle, in contrast to that this image implies that you have to fight to earn that lifestyle, a manipulative technique.
'The Great War' glamorises the War allowing it to sound important and impressive and 'YOU' in uppercase letters directs the advert at you individually.
Other imagery within the poster has hidden connotations of the War, the Toy soldiers support red, British uniforms, symbolising the Queen and her country, the red roses on the curtain represent the English rugby Nation and the pattern on the chair represents royalty.
Both images are used to manipulatively persuade people to buy into a certain lifestyle. They both focus on wealth and status and use specific imagery to reveal certain connotations to add to the idea of this lifestyle and both adverts are aimed mainly at a middle class audience.
