Propaganda in World War II

807 Words2 Pages

When a person sees a new advertisement or commercial for their favorite shoe company, they immediately want to go and check out their latest designs. Similarly, propaganda uses different sources of media to encourage people to buy a certain item that will benefit their country or an organization. Propaganda was used in World War II to encourage citizens to buy certain tools or participate in certain events to help the soldiers fighting. Both video and radio advertisements were used by the Allied and Axis powers to encourage citizens to aid the war effort, resulting in a rise of nationalism and resentment towards opposing sides. The Allied powers used video advertisements to educate and entertain people about the war and the purpose of fighting in the war. Based on certain statistics, “by 1943 nearly one third of Hollywood movies had a war theme” and these movies reached millions of people (Petley 30). More than “3000 films” were produced and the United States War Department “spent more than $50 million annually on film production during the war” (Petley 30). Video propaganda was used very often in persuading citizens to buy defense bonds/war bonds, ration food, work in factories to build ammunition, and more. Some examples are the short films “Blitz Wolf” and “Der Fuehrer’s Face.” “Blitz Wolf” was written by an anti-German producer who wrote a parody of “The Three Little Pigs” in which the bad wolf is Hitler and he went against the non-aggression pacts. Eventually the strongest pig (country) who was shown to be the United States defeated him with ammunition labeled defense bonds. This video encouraged viewers to buy defense bonds and help the US. “Der Fuehrer’s Face” was another anti- German film showing the harsh conditions of f... ... middle of paper ... ...st women to be convicted of treason. Her conviction was a result of her hatred towards her country because of the anti-Semitism and internment of Japanese-American citizens. Iva, like many other Japanese-American DJs, broadcasted scripted propaganda in English that would be broadcasted to soldiers to demoralize them and to give up fighting. Although she never admitted to being “Tokyo Rose” and there was no substantial evidence proving she was, Iva was considered an enemy alien and was constantly in-and-out of jail (Sterling). The use of Japanese scripted propaganda towards the Allied soldiers proved how the use of psychological warfare was important and monumental in history. Nazi radio broadcasting stations also appeared in Nazi countries. Hitler established a “Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda” to use different medias of propaganda. Most of the

Open Document