Canadian Wartime
Propaganda
Introduction
Propaganda is the organized dissemination of
information to influence thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and actions. The
posters and photographs in this exhibition demonstrate how words and images
were used in Canada in the service of war between 1914 and 1945.
The War Posters Room
All combatant nations use propaganda in wartime to encourage citizens to
make sacrifices and contributions to hasten victory or endure defeat.
Governments and private organizations produce or commission posters and
other items to support recruitment, promote military production, inform
citizens about proper conduct, and assure people that their governments are
taking appropriate action.
The creators of this material exploit the power of words and images to
construct persuasive visual messages that evoke feelings of fear and anger,
pride and patriotism. In proposing or privileging one point of view to the
exclusion of others, propagandists during the two world wars were neither
the first nor the last to manage information in this fashion. It is as much
a part of our contemporary world, in commercial advertising or political
campaigning, for example, as it was a part of the Roman Empire over 2000
years ago, when emperors and generals manipulated their images and
accomplishments in order to secure or attain power.