Don’t Kill Our Wild Life. United States, None. [Nyc: works progress administration, federal art project, between 1936 and 1940] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/92509203/.
Looking at posters from the past can help us see how media of various kinds works to convey messages and encourage specific behaviors. Media is more complicated now, but it still works on similar principles. Examining media of the past can help us understand the media of the present. This poster is very obviously discouraging driving too fast and killing animals as a result. The message is conveyed not just through words but through appeal to emotions as well.
Poster showing two deer crossing road in front of approaching car.
The 1930s were a tumultuous time in the United States. By the end of the decade, the country was coming out of the Great Depression in part due to a range of public works projects. There were a large number of government posters issued at this time to encourage participation in various projects and also to educate the public on various topics. This is a Works Projects Administration poster. Posters of this kind from government agencies continued into WWII to encourage enlisting in the military and to help in the general war effort.
- What do you see in this image? List the things depicted and any words you see.
- What part(s) of the image jump(s) out at you first?
- What do you notice only after looking at the image more carefully?
- What colors are used in this image?
- What do you NOT see in this image that might logically be depicted?
- What is depicted as being good and innocent? What is seen as more menacing? How is that depiction achieved?
- What is the overall message of the poster? (What is the viewer supposed to do or not do after looking at it?) How do you know?
- How does the choice of wording for the poster’s slogan influence the effectiveness of the message? How would the message change if the wording was different?
Alaska ELA standards Grades 9–12
Craft and Structure
6. Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose.
- Studying posters is a very direct and approachable way to teach an author’s purpose since the messages are stated so directly.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
9. Analyze seminal U.S. and world documents of historical and literary significance (e.g., Washington’s Farewell Address, the Gettysburg Address, Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms speech, King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”), including how they address related themes and concepts.
- The WPA posters are a part of American cultural and artistic history. Their messaging and techniques are still referred to in popular culture today.
- After going through the focus questions with students, it should be clear that the message is to drive slowly in order to cut down on car crashes involving animals. The image we see in the foreground is not just a deer, but a baby deer, which appeals to our empathy. The car coming down the road looks menacing because we can’t see anyone actually steering the car. It’s a heartless machine driving faster than it should, and it can’t see the baby, only the mother, but it probably isn’t going to stop in time to save either of their lives. The wording includes the word “our” rather than “the” in order to appeal to a sense of community.
- After looking at this poster, examine a print PSA from a more recent time that appeals to emotions and go through the focus questions again.
- Have students create a public poster of their own, justifying their choices of images, wording, style, and composition.
- Some might feel that speed limits encroach on individual freedoms and that human convenience supersedes animal rights.
- The Federal Highway Commission researches the frequency of animal collisions and makes recommendations about reducing them. This is not only for the safety of animals but for the humans inside vehicles as well, not to mention prevention of costly property damage. Their website publishes their studies and recommendations.
Links to resources for approaching those topics
- Join the Navy, the service for fighting men
- This poster encourages men to join the Navy with a simple slogan and an image.
- You--Buy a Liberty bond lest I perish
- This poster from 1917 encourages buying liberty bonds during WWI. It’s another simple slogan with an image.
- More information about the Library of Congress WPA poster collection with links to other posters: https://loc.gov/pictures/collection/wpapos/https://loc.gov/pictures/collection/wpapos/
- An excellent array of posters and teaching ideas can be found at Primary Source Nexus: https://primarysourcenexus.org/2011/08/primary-source-posters-teaching-ideas-resources/