Rosie The Riveter Propaganda

Imagine: you are walking your dog down the street for your evening walk. However, even this peaceful moment of your day is interrupted by posters on telephone poles and neon signs in shop windows that try to pique your interest in new products or ideas. Persuasive ads are everywhere in the world around us today. However, not unlike modern times, propaganda was used in the 1940s to persuade audiences and change opinions. “Rosie the Riveter” is a poster created during the time of World War II, and it attempts to persuade women to join the workforce and replace the men fighting in the war. According to some historians, “between 1940 and 1945, the female percentage of the U.S. workforce increased from 27 percent to nearly 37 percent, and by 1945

nearly one out of every four married women worked outside the home” (History.com). For this extreme change in the U.S. workforce to occur, women had to be persuaded to leave behind their comfortable lifestyles, and head to new jobs and experiences. In terms of the “Rosie the Riveter” poster, the artist, Norman Rockwell had to persuade women to change their ways of life, resulting in strong usage of rhetoric. Because of “Rosie the Riveter’s” persuasion, women joined the workforce, effecting a major change in the American way of life.
One of the main forms of persuasion in this poster is the appeal of ethos, which is the appeal “based on goodwill toward the audience” (Alfano and O’Brien 63). In this poster appeal, Rockwell plays to the points of the nationality of the people. In order to establish a nationalistic approach, Rockwell uses a red, white, and blue color scheme in the poster to evoke patriotism in his audience. “Rosie” is wearing a blue jumpsuit with a red and white headband and the writing above her is also written in white on a blue background. This color scheme enhances the appeal of ethos. The artist uses these colors to evoke a response in his American audience. By using red, white, and blue, the artist compares “Rosie” to being a patriotic American. This intensifies the audience’s need to be a nationalist, especially during wartime. The color scheme is connects to wartime because every citizen is concerned with the safety of the country and the soldiers abroad, meaning, whoever does not support America during the war effort, is “un-American.” Therefore, the nationalistic colors of the poster convince women that joining the workforce is the best thing for the country in this time of war because the bottom of the poster states, “War production co-ordinating committee” (Rockwell). In persuading women to join the “war production co-ordinating committee,” Rockwell is prompting women, with the appeal of ethos, to help their country, and inseparably drawing women into a different way of life. And, who best to draw people into the unknown than a respectable authority figure?
The artist further uses the appeal of ethos by presenting “Rosie” as an authority figure. Rockwell understands that the American women need a patriotic authority figure to demonstrate what it means to be a true American. To that extent, Rockwell creates a women armed with strength and a stern look. To demonstrate “Rosie’s” strength, Rockwell has her posed with a fist in the air, displaying her muscles. This pose enhances the idea that “Rosie” is a strong woman who is capable of doing anything a man can do, meaning that she is able to do a “man’s work” while he is fighting in the war. To enhance this image, “Rosie” is also shown with a stern look. This look indicates that “Rosie” is determined to help America in any way she can, and in turn convinces the female audience to want to do the same. Finally, “Rosie” is shown in a blue jumpsuit to display her commitment to the war effort. Not only can she do a man’s job, but she also is shown as completely abandoning the way a woman should dress during the time, and is instead classified as a workingwoman. However, “Rosie” is still seen wearing makeup and has perfectly curled hair, so the poster also makes the statement that a women can still have womanly features and do other jobs that would not be considered “women’s work” at the time. The entire presentation of “Rosie” as a strong and stern worker reinforces her characterization as a prevalent authority figure for women to respect and ultimately imitate. By imitating “Rosie’s” pursuit to be a workingwoman during wartime, women in the United States must change their own lifestyles, causing a great change throughout society.
In order to change the opinions of women around the United States, Rockwell must make the poster relatable to women. To do this, Rockwell names his poster, “Rosie the Riveter.” The wording of the title alone demands attention from the public. This is because riveter is defined as “a person whose job it is to fix things together with rivets,” or, “a person who rivets” (CITE). During the time, a riveter was a job strictly for men working in factories. However, combining the name “Rosie,” which is an extremely feminine name, with the term “riveter” demonstrates to the audience that anyone is able to be a skilled factory worker and complete a “man’s job,” even women. In turn, this also suggests to the audience that women are able to take over factory jobs while the men are off fighting in World War II. This implies that women are able to begin new and exciting jobs, causing a large change in the lifestyles of women during the time.
Not only does the poster persuade its audience with the title, but also the caption.

The poster displays the text “We Can Do It!” (Rockwell). This caption displays to the audience that women can do the jobs men can do. In turn, this also emphasizes that every woman can become a “Rosie” during wartime through the use of the word “we” instead of “you.” By grouping “Rosie” with all other women in America, the public is able to recognize that anyone can become “Rosie” even though she is presented as an authority figure. This presents women with the idea that they, too, can become authority figures and help the war effort, just like “Rosie.” In grouping the general population with Rosie, this presents women the opportunity to mold their own way of life into one more like

“Rosie’s.”
On the other hand, some may argue that “Rosie the Riveter’s” image does not have any effect on increase in the number of women working in factories and doing jobs that were previously thought to be strictly men’s jobs.

In this argument, historians may consider Rockwell’s poster to be merely a drop in the bucket of the multitude of propaganda circulating during wartime. In this case, “Rosie the Riveter’s” poster may have just been produced during the time when society was making a change, and may not have actually started the changing of women’s lifestyles. However, the poster could still have been made “in the right time and place for an argument,” or the rhetorical situation of kairos (Alfano and O’Brien 75). This would be because a series of events was taking place during World War II that allowed women to gain more authority in the workplace. Therefore, Rockwell’s poster may have just been created at the right time and place for it to become “perhaps the most iconic image of working women during the war”

(History.com).
In conclusion, Norman Rockwell’s poster, “Rosie the Riveter,” is well known throughout history for persuading women to join the workforce. This is important because this change meant that women would begin a new lifestyle. Instead of staying at home, doing household chores and raising their children, women could begin to pursue careers they could have never have imagined doing before. Through the rhetorical devices of ethos and kairos, Rockwell is able to persuade women to begin factory jobs, and therefore change their lifestyles. Ultimately this allowed women to begin new careers and eventually become their own “Rosie.” Even today, this poster remains to symbolize women’s fight towards equality, and it still persuades people to strive for their goals because “We Can Do It!”