Rosie The Riveter Ad Campaign

Sambridhi Ghimire

Professor MacLellan

English 201

October 26, 2014

Just Do It

In 1943, during World War II, J. Howard Miller created an American wartime poster. It featured a rather strong looking woman, who is believed to have been modeled after a black and white picture taken of a Michigan factory worker named Geraldine Hoff Doyle, flexing her bicep with the words "We Can Do It!" written above her. The poster came to be known as “Rosie the Riveter.” Its main purpose was to inspire a boost in worker morale in the Westinghouse Electric Company, an American manufacturer; however, over the years it has come to be known as a feminist icon.

When this poster was actually produced, the United States, as well as the rest of the Allied powers, were

One of the aspects, which made it so successful, was its color scheme; the iconic red, white, and blue represented American nationalism and patriotism. That paired along with a strong housewife, signified by her red with white polka dots handkerchief, which ties back her hair, and bold white words, “We Can Do It!” made for a striking and attracting visual to housewives and motivated them to want to do something for their country. This advertisement was also successful because it shattered the belief that a housewife was this soft and light human being by illustrating Rosie as a housewife with a stern look, and muscular, although not too muscular, arms, which was the complete opposite of societal norms established for housewives at the time. Despite that, Rosie is still shown to have maintained her feminine looks with the added red lipstick, blush, and mascara. Miller also threw in a bright yellow background to catch viewers’ eyes. Everything was done specifically to promote American patriotism, and to get women to support the war effort by joining the

Far after World War II came to a conclusion, the Rosie the Riveter poster was rediscovered during the second-wave of feminism in1980 and became famous as a feminist icon. Before then, the poster was not known as “Rosie the Riveter” nor was the name “Rosie” associated with it. It was mistakenly called that and it stuck with it over the years. It has been used several times in recent campaigns. One such example is during Sarah Palin’s 2008 campaign running to be the Vice President of the United States. Famous singer Beyoncé also recreated it recently by dressing up as Rosie and striking the same iconic pose in front of a bright yellow background for Instagram. Her fans reacted by calling it “the ultimate feminist picture.” Rosie the Riveter is a timeless piece of rhetoric as it has survived being influential back in the 1940’s, 1980’s, as well as all the way into present day in the 21st century. It was successful 70 years ago, and is still successful today, albeit in slightly different