CoP- Study Task 3

In the first context of practice lesson we were given a task in which we had to compare two images the questions we had to answer were:

• The choice and organisation of font and style of illustration
• The purpose and meaning of the image
• The target/potential audience of the image
• The social and historical contexts relevant to the production of the image

The images are:

The Uncle Sam Range (1876) by Schumacher and Ettlinger, New York

Poster by Savile Lumley


As we can see in the top one it is clearly an advertisement, after a discussion I found it was an advertisement for selling a range cooker from the 'Uncle Sam's Cooking Range'. In this advert we can see there is quite an American theme throughout with the Eagle as well as the carpet and clothes.  I would describe the advert as patriotic. The advert was made in 1876 which was 100 days after Independence day. We can see on the side there is a hint of racism with the slave doing the cooking in the corner. Clearly this was still at the time of slavery.We can also see there is more racism from the recipes in the photos for example suggesting China eats birds nests and grass hoppers. They're suggesting in a way that the American way of life is better than other cultures. From my own observation I would suggest the target audience for this advert is middle class families very nearly upper class. My reasoning for this is that I found that most upperclass families would most likely own a range cooker as they would have had the money beforehand when the range cookers were first made.

There are similarities between the first image and second image as they are both very patriotic. I say that the second image is patritoc due to the question at the bottom of the image which reads 'Daddy what did YOU do in the great war', I believe the image is of a middle-class English family with the young boy playing with the English guards. Also in the second image there is the use of roses on the curtains which could be refereeing to the English Rose.

In the second image the appearance doesn't compare much with the first image. The colours in this image are very neutral with the use of greens and blues. Also the font in the second image seems very soft with the use of the italics,  whereas in the top the type used has a very 'cowboy' look to it which shows a strong and in your face which turns your attention to the advert.

The second image clearly shows it is used for propaganda with the idea of a perfect family. I get this idea from the caption on the image which reads 'Daddy, what did YOU do in the Great War?', this caption is almost pressuring the audience for the image to join the army during WW1, also there is an emphasis on the 'you'. The target audience for this image is for males who are of the age to join the army. This image is used to persuade people to join the army, almost guilt tripping you into thinking you're a bad person if you don't join the Army. Focusing on the caption within the sentence it says the "Great War" this is implying the English are thinking very highly of themselves as they are implying they are going to be winning the War.

Although completely different countries and different messages both these images have quite a few things in common. They're both patriotic in their own ways, with the American one being less subtle than the other image.