Selling A Healthy War 2
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Presentation given at the Framing Film conference Summer 2009
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Selling A Healthy War 2
- 1. '‘Selling a Healthy War’: propaganda posters and public information films produced by the Ministry of Information during the Second World War’ Dr Bex Lewis http://www.ww2poster.co.uk http://www.twitter.com/ww2poster
- 5. The Ministry of Information Central governmental publicity machine Formed September 1939 Tell the citizen ‘clearly and swiftly what he is to do, where he is to do it, how he is to do it and what he should not do’.
- 6. Health: A Munition of War Colds Venereal Disease Diphtheria Accident prevention Good Hygiene Quick Treatment Healthy Eating
- 7. How to Keep Well in Wartime During three years of total war the nation’s stubborn good health has been invaluable to out war effort. Even so, as a nation we are still using about 22 million weeks’ work each year through common and often preventable illnesses such as colds and influenza, dyspepsia, biliousness, neurasthenia, rheumatism, boils and other septic conditions. This is calculated to be the equivalent to the loss of 24,000 tanks, 6,750 bombers, and 6,750,000 rifles a year, not to mention the pain and inconvenience we suffer as individuals. How to Keep Well in Wartime, Ministry of Information, 1943 (Booklet)
- 8. Questionnaire Response The one that seems very funny to me now but not at the time was VD Kills. In those days such a thing was never mentioned such was the ignorance, but it must have been a very big problem as this was the largest poster of the lot. When you asked about it, a look of horror would come over the person’s face and you would get no explanation. Then one of the schoolboys got the full facts from a soldier at the nearby camp. “You went deaf, and blind and your nose fell off” and you caught this affliction by talking to girls. Needless to say after that you only spoke to boys. I remember averting my eyes every time I passed that poster. Male, Rotherham, reply to questionnaire, March 1998.
- 10. Coughs and Sneezes Spread Diseases
- 11. Fougasse: Humour
- 12. H.M.Bateman: “The Man Who...” http://www.antiqueprintshop.co.uk/humorous.htm
- 14. Points remembered from ‘Coughs and Sneezes’ Publicity
- 15. Media from which information was obtained
- 16. Susan Sontag A public notice aims to inform or command. A poster aims to seduce, to exhort, to sell, to educate, to convince, to appeal. Whereas a public notice distributes information to interested or alert citizens, a poster reaches out to grab those who might otherwise pass it by
- 17. Public Information Films “Public Information Films (PIFs) are made by the UK government to tell the nation about things they should know, how to behave and generally state the bleeding obvious.” http://625.uk.com/pifs/
- 18. Coughs and Sneezes Spread Diseases on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h6jw4Fni-w: (1945, but post-war) http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1121022/index.html; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VNJIl0XKFw
- 20. Thank you for your time.QUESTIONS?
Editor's Notes
- HALF-HOUR, INCLUDING TIME FOR QUESTIONSORIGINAL ABSTRACT: The wartime poster “Keep Calm and Carry On” was one of three produced by the Ministry of Information (MOI) in 1939, kept in reserve in case of necessity. The MOI, officially formed at the outbreak of the Second World War, was the central governmental publicity machine. Its role was to tell the citizen ‘clearly and swiftly what he is to do, where he is to do it, how he is to do it and what he should not do’.“Keep Calm and Carry On” has had a credit-crunch induced renaissance in 2009. Mass-Observation, collecting reaction at the time, found many decreed them “too solemn” with a yearning for a “bit of humour”. Wartime propaganda was not produced without planning, planning for the 1939 campaign had commenced in 1935. The MOI had comprehensive strategies, covering not only posters, but radio, press and film.“Health is a Munition of War” declared the “Fighting Fit” exhibition in 1943: poor health led to absenteeism, which had an impact on war production. This paper will examine surviving posters and public information films from the campaign “Coughs and Sneezes Spread Diseases” as forms of inter-textual promotion. Cinema and posters, both visual medium, complemented each other in a cohesive strategically planned campaign, drawing upon images of how it was ‘appropriate’ for the democratic British ‘citizen’ to behave in a time of war, often using the British ’secret weapon’ of humour.
- Recognise these?Both have origins in WW2.KCCO = produced September 1939, in case of invasion, never displayed. Rediscovered, Barter Books, auction, 2000. Since become ‘a national icon’, especially since November 2008, when the recession hit (coincidentially when I returned from my global travels!) C&SSD = produced February 2007 as a pre-pandemic poster, sent to NHS outlets including GP surgeries, health centres, pharmacies health promotion units, health protection units A & E departments and NHS Walk-in Centres, but the slogan had its origins in WW2. More catchy than “Catch It. Bin It. Kill It” Germs hang around for hours...
- The KCCO has mutated in many ways... Now Panic & Freak Out (most famous, and collects me the most hits on my blog)What I noticed shortly after I became aware of KCCO – 2008 Police CampaignProbably the 3rd most popular variationIn a shop store in New York... All those associations with “Britishness”, ‘stiff upper lip’, ‘seeing it through’, etc... Largely come from wartimeMake your own sloganRecent MP expenses humourRandom humour...
- Within hours of Swine Flu reaching global attention – this design was in the public domain... Devised this paper BEFORE Swine Flu Already noted that a Flu Jab leaflet from 1999 used H.M. Bateman’s ‘Coughs and Sneezes Spread Diseases’, expected to ring bells with the target audience... At end of WW1 was of course an influenza pandemic – so still live in the public memory...
- The MOIThe MOI, officially formed at the outbreak of the Second World War, was the central governmental publicity machine. Its role was to tell the citizen ‘clearly and swiftly what he is to do, where he is to do it, how he is to do it and what he should not do’.Criticism of the MOI Seen as hotchpotch, partly in reaction to the 2 other red posters released (KCCO series), and partly stories by journalists fearful that the MOI would clamp down on them. Planning for MOI started 1935, in secret, as didn’t want the REALITY of war to hit until war itself became impossible to avoid. Launched 3rd September 1939 (so 70 year anniversary this week) – and note that although the Nazis organisation translated as propaganda, propaganda was a dirty word after WW1, so ‘information’ instead (1918, MOI had been formed, briefly, out of competing organisations – more organised this time, propaganda seen as a weapon of war). Expectations were that morale boosting would be the main focus, whereas it soon emerged that the public was behind the war and simply wanted to be told CLEARLY what do to, so there were complaints that it’s early material was not helpful!James Chapman’s PhDChapman used the Films Divisions of the MOI as a reference point to demonstrate how ‘a democratic state created a workable and efficient propaganda organisation almost from scratch… one which played its full part in achieving eventual victory.’ Controversy and failure always create more interest for historians. AGREE WITH JAMES that more attention should be paid to the achievements that the MOI actually made.Chapman, J., The British at War: Cinema, State and Propaganda 1939-1945, 1998, p.vii.The COIThe Government clearly felt that the MOI had had a purpose, as in 1946, its remnants were formed into the TheCentral Office of Information, COI, which continues to provide consultancy, procurement and project management for public information campaigns. Prime Minister, Clement Attlee: official information services still had, ‘an important and permanent part in the machinery of government’ and that ‘the public should be adequately informed about the many matters in which Government action directly impinges on their daily lives’. IMAGE:Fougasse – more of him later!
- Unlike a totalitarian state, in a democratic citizenship, there was a notion of all playing a useful part. First Public Health Act of 1848 - of course creation of NHS in 1948. Public Health = a growing field in the 1930s. (Health propaganda or publicity in general became more acceptable in the interwar years, although it was often perceived as education, and many films had been produced on public health subjects, including VD. By 1935, health weeks had become a normal part of life. Growing awareness of infection control, range of concerns: VD, colds, diphtheria etc. The government, of course, particularly concerned about anything that impacted on the health of the population – leading to absenteeism, reduced input, etc., and therefore impacted on production of war goods. As a democracy, rather than an imposed artistic style, as we’ll see in some examples, a wide range of media and a wide range of styles used in (all) campaigns, to reach the widest possible audience.
- This booklet, produced by MOI for MOH in 1943, echoes previous slide well: absenteeism through PREVENTABLE illness costing VAST QUANTITIES of war materials. Interestingly, can now buy copies of this booklet... (and some others)Sources = demonstrate in "how many different spheres the government sought to influence people and, reflected back from these materials, is the image of who these people are."
- Interestingly, some of the material that Mass-Observation collected about the Coughs and Sneezes campaign was only collected as they really wanted to collect information on the success of the VD campaign, but to ‘soften’ people up, they collated a more innocuous “health survey”.VD was seen as a serious topic, and therefore required serious posters! VD was deemed to be a problem intensified by war, exacerbated by the disruption to normal life and by the movement of peoples and the armed forces.
- In 1946, Hansard notes debates, looking back on the war: 1st objective of VD campaign = break through taboos re: public discussion of the subject. (Achieved by shock tactics) 2nd = to educate in detail re: prevention/cure. (In progress for 3 years)Initially in the early twentieth century, ‘many men considered their first dose of clap a rite de passage into manhood’. By the Second World War a ‘“manly man” appears to have become one who had the sense and control to take precautions against infection’. Davidson, R., and Hall, L., op.cit., 2001, p.10.Influence Eugenics movements Significant in WW2: VD posters placed in open public spaces for the first time, causing great controversy. As we reflect on reactions to the posters, we see how far people recognised the need to fulfil their duties of citizenship through altering their sexual behaviour in order to remain ‘undiseased’, maintaining a healthy body that would fight the war and have the potential to build a new future. Several competing discourses were involved in the construction of VD as a problem in the Second World War. These included discourses based on government, religion, scientific medicine, the law, and education, which collectively addressed questions of gender, nation and citizenship. VD has a long identifiable history, in which Second World War thinking was grounded, particularly drawing on Victorian values.
- So, back to C&SSD Campaign first launched Winter 1940, and continued annually til end of war. MOH through the MOI, who provided full range of media through the MOI for specific educational campaigns = diphtheria, droplet infection & VD. As we said, wide variety produced for this campaign... Can see here: Science – droplet infection (used in exhibitions, and accompanying literature) Serious ‘please do this’Humour, in a rather Hitler-esque cartoon Humour, with GilesAll using same slogan... Films & poster well known/studied material, but = other types - stickers, respectful, inspirational, statistical booklets. Spent £12,600 on posters/vehicle bills between October/March 1943
- Already seen humour used in previous examples, and here we have one of the most famous series from the war – not health related, but by ‘Fougasse’, art editor of Punch, (Aka Kenneth Bird), who both used and argued for the appropriate use of humour within the British context (within a crisis situation).Believed in the unifying quality of humour (common understanding of a joke creates a bond) – persuades without causing resentmentHumour = can spotlight ridiculousness/foolishness of actions/irresponsible behaviour.Fougasse, BBC talk, few days after publication of posters = justified his use of humour for such a serious subject. “By placing it within a British cultural context he explained his emotional function of enabling people to deal with the difficult truths they do not wish to confront. It is precisely their lack of realism than enables cartoons to communicate powerful ideas in a non-threatening manner.”Fougasse’s images were so popular that they were reproduced of own volition!Barnicoat, writing in the 1970s, had noted about 1936 that “In England, humour was the great popular leveller and it was applied to most areas of advertising.” On a design level, English designs may have suffered in comparison with French designs, but “their real strength lay in the fact that their designs were on the very popular level of comedy..”1920s and 30s – comic strip and movie cartoon = new influences in visual humour = apparent in poster design.In 1940, F.C. Bartlett wrote that he was wary about the use of humour: a ‘dangerous tool’, only really effective within the artist’s own population. The sense of humour needed to be known ‘intimately’ and ‘sympathetically’.Fougasse would have agreed with this, as would Eckersley who said that: “During some of the most trying times of the last war, when men were constantly under a great strain it was the ability to appreciate amusing things which helped them to carry on.”Wainwright, writing in1943, thought that these ‘Fougassecartoons are delightful but completely out of place in a ‘careless talk’ campaign; How can one be earnest about the matter when humour makes fun of the whole thing?’. However, for factory workers – cartoon or caricature, a more natural form of expression, so more ‘usable’.M-O research noted: the early ‘red’ posters, described as a failure as they ‘alienated many’ with their pompous language, whilst cartoons ‘injected some welcome humour’ and ‘set a new tone for official mass communication’, allowing people did toidentify with them more, feeling they were aimed more PERSONALLY at them!