Kyle 1

Kyle Cordova
Mrs. Litle
Eng 121
15 February 2017
Humor is Powerful
War is not something a country can go at with minimal effort and support. It needs to be

taken on at a countries best effort. They need to be able to utilize as much part of their country as

possible that includes the civilian population. A country needs to be in the correct mindset to deal

with the war. Even though many techniques were implemented to persuade, propaganda was one

of the most effective to do so. The authors of this propaganda poster was able to persuade, unite

and empower the nation by the clever usage of colors, composition and humor.
This poster in particular is very different from the others from the same time period. The

others portray the enemies as powerful and dangerous monsters. Trying to persuade the reader of

the poster that we are doing the right thing by going to war with them. This poster pokes fun at

Adolf Hitler. He was a man that many feared and for good reason. The poster showed him as the

butt of the joke. He didnt appear to be powerful but vulnerable and timid.
It was a really effective use of pathos. I believe they tried to focus in on pathos because of

the way they wanted the reader to feel. They wanted the reader to feel that Hitler was vulnerable

and weak. The reader can then feel stronger by comparison and want to be able to get into the

action. It also hints that the reader needs to hustle. Lets Catch him with his panzers down! It

seems like that they are trying to get the reader to go into war right away so that you can catch

him when he is vulnerable.

It comes off as quite humorous through many things in the poster. It spans from being

very obvious to being quite subtle. One of the most obvious things that come off as comical is

the focus of the poster with Hitler de-pants. The eyes are drawn to the use of the swastika as it is

used all over his boxers. It pulls from the power of the symbol that struck fear into many in a

funny way. Its not as highly held if it is used on mere underwear. The next thing to probably to
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draw your eye is the text in red. Lets catch him with his Panzers down. Its a play on words by

replacing pants with panzers. The word panzer in German translates to armor. The heavy

armored vehicles or commonly phrased tanks where called panzers during World War II. It

also relates back to catch him with panzers down or catch him when he isnt armored and when

he is vulnerable. One of the last things to draw the readers eyes was the meticulous use of the

lines by his legs. The use of the lines implies that he is nervous and scared and that he is shaking

in his boots.
The wording on the poster also implies that we are in on this together, all from the simple

use of lets. The usage of it groups the reader with the nation. It unites by implying that we all

should go and catch him with his panzers down. By doing this and pairing it with the

empowering effect of belittling Hitler and by comparison making the reader feel stronger is a

powerful combination.
The colors of this poster also play a powerful role as well. The background color choice

of yellow can be interpreted in many ways. I think however that the usage of yellow lightens the

mood and really compliments the humor portion of this poster. The usage of red is also very

prevalent. It stands out against the other colors. It emphasizes the what is colored red such as the

swastikas and text. The blue I think is color that compliments the way the author is trying to

unite the readers because blue often associated with loyalty. The use of the colors is a great use

of pathos in order to passively get the reader to feel a certain way about the poster.
This poster was so effective because it took a different approach by using humor. It was

able to get the reader to get the reader to feel stronger by poking fun at Hitler and his

vulnerabilities. The use of color was passively used to also get the reader to feel the way the

author wanted. The success of this propaganda poster was the results clever usage of colors,

composition and humor.