The good Lord Kitchener's pithy words epitomize 'no bullshit'.But, would they have had any effect on the generations that had "Be all that you can be", "Aim High", "Not Just a Job. It's an Adventure" and my favorite: "Army of one" pitched at them.
Would they have known what the hell he was talking about?
4/26
In response to Don, "The Many-Armed Schoolteacher"'s comment:
3 comments:
All true. On the other hand, do you have any evidence that the poster you picture was a recruiting success? Part of the reason those other slogans exist is that careful market research showed that they would work. I often don't enjoy things created by market research, but they tend to be popular, and for a recruiting poster, popularity is a virtue.
I don't know any answers, but I got plenty questions.
Anyway, TAG.
The answers are easy, Don. Just make them up.
I suspect this effort of Kitchener's wasn't run by the focus group enough.
It got better though. He also starred in the Brit poster, "I Want You..." -an idea later famously ripped off by George Mongomery Flagg.
I have no numbers for this, but Lord Kitchener was a *major* national hero in the UK. 'Superstar' would not be over the line. He was considered a national hero for his successes in Sudan and South Africa; he was also very influential and fortunate in the beginning of WWI. As these things go though, he made numerous political enemies (not unlike Churchill).
There's a Wiki article on him (and the poster) that isn't too off-base. A better read would be:
Kitchener: Architect of Victory, Artisan of Peace by John Pollock. I'm a fan of him (and Churchill).
Regardless, based on HH's 'star-power,' especially in 1914-15, I'm sure the poster was effective.
If I'm not mistaken, wasn't the US copy of this poster the first printing of "Uncle Sam?"
MoE
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