'‘Selling a Healthy War’: propaganda posters and public information films produced by the Ministry

of Information during the Second World War’

Dr Bex Lewishttp://www.ww2poster.co.uk

http://www.twitter.com/ww2poster

2009

http://ww2poster.wordpress.com/

http://www.flickr.com/groups/keepcalm/pool/

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’.

Health: A Munition of War Colds Venereal Disease Diphtheria Accident prevention Good Hygiene Quick Treatment Healthy Eating

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)

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.

Coughs and Sneezes Spread Diseases

Fougasse: Humour

H.M.Bateman: “The Man Who...”

http://www.antiqueprintshop.co.uk/humorous.htm

% (1) % (2)

Sneeze into a handkerchief, sneezes spread colds. 72 50

‘Coughs and sneezes spread diseases’ 15 10

‘Trap that germ’ and recognisable descriptions of posters and films.

4 3

Keep out of crowds, cinemas, away from others 13 9

Fresh air 3 2

Stay in bed, keep warm, stay away from work. 13 9

Get cold attended to, have inoculations, new drugs, take patent medicines.

3 3

Miscellaneous 6 4

Didn’t remember any points - 31

(1) Those who remembered points(2) Total Sample

1,1741,694

Points remembered from ‘Coughs and Sneezes’

Publicity

%

Newspapers 44

Posters (in buses and trains) 37

Posters on hoardings, etc. 29

Posters in lavatories 6

Cinema 28

Radio 21

Magazines 14

Lectures 1

Others 4

Not noticed publicity, no answer 24

SAMPLE 1,694

Media from which information was obtained

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

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/

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

Chapter 6: 39.09-45.04

Thank you for your time.

QUESTIONS?