Cold War Blog

This propaganda poster mainly appealed to pathos by forcing American men to question if they had any dignity, honor, and American values. Will they just watch as the USSR comes into America and spreads Communism? Or are they bold enough to protect women and children and confront the Soviet Union? If they did not, they “would be sterilized” and the majority of American society would look down on them. Since this poster was released during a time when traditional gender roles were still apparent, men felt responsible for taking care of the family. Therefore, it would go against all of their morals to disagree with the propaganda poster’s message. They have no excuse and must make a stand against communism now. Alex Ratliff

The primary rhetorical appeal of this ad is pathos. The dark red and black colors of the background and text are meant to distill a sense of fear into the reader. This disgruntled looking employee looking disgustedly at the poor quality paper towels makes the audience subconsciously think that there is something wrong with the towels he is using. The large, bold, red letters "Bolsheviks" is meant to further instill a sense of fear, fear of communism. Whilst these emotions are running through the audience, ScotTissue towels then attempts to capture the reader into buying there product. They do this by saying that the inferior towels of other brands leads to unrest in the working class. It is implied that this slippery slope will lead America straight to communism unless you begin buying these higher quality towels. -LJ Brooks

The thing about propaganda is that they tend to focus on solely creating a pathetic reaction within their audience. They do not have a set logical reasoning behind them. However, this does not mean that the poster does not intend to appeal to logos. Instead of supporting its argument, this poster has just enough gaps where it’s audience will create their own reasoning to support the poster's message that communism is a threat. Simply put, the poster will allow its audience’s strong preconceptions towards communism create an appeal to logos for them. Though the general American public might not have been heavily informed on the exact circumstances, they knew that communism was this terrible thing. American Patriotism would not them believe anything else. Knowing this, the creators of this poster set out to create a very effective appeal to pathos. They knew that their audience would supply the reasoning. That is why propaganda is so effective, they can say whatever they want and let...

There are several logical appeals present in this text; the most powerful are closely tied to its appeal to the strong American sense of anti-communism. This particular appeal aims to justify the ad's bold claim that your washroom is "breeding bolsheviks". It does so by explaining why poor paper towels causes proletarian revolts: lesser paper towels are uncomfortable, and unsanitary, two factors that are proven to lead to discomfort and socialist tendencies. The ad goes on to explain how this is a simple example of "important courtesies", just as important as providing air and light. This is, after all, why those Russian reds overthrew their czar: the paper towels in the factory restrooms were horridly inadequate! In addition to this obvious appeal to the 20th century American businessman--single-handedly freezing communism's advance was a mighty good bar story!--the ad makes use of logical appeals in other ways as well. The ad touts the soft, pliable feel o...

The credibility of the author is proven several different ways in this advertisement. The first comes from the publisher, Scot Tissue Towels. This is a well known, respected American company, an expert in the field of workplace hygiene, and one that ought to know the unwanted side effects of improper hand drying. There is also the fact that this was an ad warning against the communist threat, in a time where any such warning was immediately accepted as truth, with little thought as to the sensibility of the argument. Do poor quality paper towels really cause workers to succumb to the red tide? Who knows, but better safe than sorry! The ad also sports examples of well known, well run, major American Corporations, such as RCA and National Lead. Clearly, the deciding difference, the major factor affecting the success of National Lead vs. your friendly neighborhood lead supplier, was the brand of paper towel used. Switch to ScotTissue, and BAM! immediate profit, and the elimination of the ...

The "If Russia Should Win" propaganda poster has no known author, so the credibility of the true author is unknown. Therefore, the general author is the United States. During these times of heightened tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, many of Americans feared the Soviet Union. Consequently, the majority of the American people naturally thought of the United States as a credible country that is trying to survive against the Soviet Union. Alternatively, one could argue that the author is the film company Paramount Pictures is the author, which today is still a reputable company producing many top notch films. However, it is unlikely people were focusing on that, especially since the text mentioning Paramount was even smaller than the description at the bottom of the propaganda piece. Alex Ratliff

The main argument of  the ScotTissue towel ad was to promote the use of ScotTissue towels and degrade other towels brands. ScotTissue is a company, so above all else they want people to buy their product. To do so they capitalize on the current fear of America, communism. Through the use of communism they hope to frighten there audience into purchasing these particular towels. They also attempt to discredit other towel companies. They do this by stating that the other towels are inferior and will make your workers unhappy. Although not explicitly stated, it is implied that this is a slippery slope towards your employees becoming communists. To solidify their claims that their towels are superior, they use some statistics, showing how although the actual towel roll is more expensive, these are actually cost-effective. ScotTissue towels use the fear of communism  as well as statistics to prove that their towels are superior to all other towel brands. -LJ Brooks

The main argument this poster was trying to make was that Communism was a very real and relevant threat. After WWII Russia gained a lot of power but more importantly, underwent a radical change. They became even more militaristic and began to dominate other nations with their communist ideals. A lot of Americans forgot that. They were too busy enjoying their economic prosperity to be worried about some supposedly far off threat. That needed to change and so this poster was created to remind America that communism still existed. That it was powerful and had already conquered other nations. This poster wanted to hammer the idea into Americans heads that if they continued to be self assured and complacent, the Russians would swoop in to destroy their values and subjugate their women. The creators of this piece best show that through the woman being held under the boot. Her helpless figure igniting the protective instincts within men. - Oliver Argueta

This ad for ScotTissue Towels was meant to be viewed by any American running some sort of business. The advertisement immediately grabs the attention of anyone who reads it with the large question, “Is your washroom breeding Bolsheviks?” This ad is from the 1930s, a time period where fear of soviets was starting to rise in America. As such, seeing this Russian word made heads turn and captured the audience to read more.  After this the poster goes into detail on how these paper towels are better than any other brands. To solidify the audience, the poster names companies such as Viscor, National Lead, and Campbell. These brands are meant to convince the audience that if they want their company to be successful, they need these towels. However, ScotTissue Towels did not want to alienate all other consumers from buying these towels. To convince the general public, they start listing all the great things about their towels and how cost efficient they are. The slogan at the bottom seek...

The “If Russia Should Win” propaganda poster aimed to instill fear in its audience, American men. It creatively depicted a beautiful woman being crushed by a domineering USSR soldier, illustrating complete USSR dominance. It purposefully urged American men to despise the expanding USSR and Communism as a whole. Plenty of American men feel neutral towards Communism since it may have had no direct impact on them. However, now that they can see the potential threat of the USSR, they may turn against Communism. Furthermore, if they do not turn against the USSR in order to defend women and children, they will lose respect and honor. The piece of propaganda also aimed to stimulate nationalism and unite the American people. Only as a whole can America defeat Communism. Alex Ratliff

This ScotTissue ad first appeared in the late 1920’s to early 1930’s, when Great War memories were still fresh, communism had taken over Russia and was spreading through Europe, and the Great Depression was sinking its teeth into the United States. Given the monetary troubles of the time, as well as the prevalence of socialism in European politics, many were worried that American people would turn to communism ideas as a way to improve their situation. Of course, no red-blooded, kraut-killin’ Yankee wanted the European tide of communism washing over the US, and this ad plays on that desire. This was the start of the Cold War, the dawn of the Red Scare, and you were better dead than red. Everyone was supposed to do their part to stop the tide of communism from sweeping over the United States. According to ScotTissue, a business’s part was to provide comfortable facilities to its employees; after all, inconvenience leads to discontent, and discontent can lead to revolt. The way to s...

Communism is a threat to American society, that is what the government needed to convince its citizens of. Though there were no physical battles being fought by men and guns, a war of ideals was taking place. This propaganda poster “If Russia Should Win” urged Americans to condemn Communism because their way of life was at stake. The Soviets had already converted several other countries and if America was not careful, they would be next. This poster urged its audience to act through presenting a beautiful woman being held under the boot of a giant communist and the phrase “...many men would be sterilized”. This essentially implied that Americans could not be considered men if they stood by and did nothing while foreigners came to take their women. Now was the time to act and to reaffirm their American values. Now was the time to stand up and protect their women. Now was the time to face communism. This poster created exigency through fear, and it seemed to have worked - Oliver Arguet...