Rosie The Riveter We Can Do It Poster Essay

Advertisements are all around us and they are a form of a marketing tool to encourage, persuade, or manipulate an audience to take some form of action. The advertisement I chose to analyze was the Rosie the Riveter We Can Do It poster. The poster was created during the 1940’s to encourage women to enter the work force as factory workers during World War II. The men had to leave the factory jobs to fight in the war. The poster is of a young white woman, Rosie the Riveter. She is standing in the front of the poster, which helps to grab the attention of the audience. She is wearing a blue factory uniform that has a small white and blue pin on the collar. The pin is of a woman’s face with the words “WestingHouse Electric Service 1942.”
Rosie is

wearing a red and white polka dot kerchief tied around her head. Her hair is a dark brown color and it is tied up in a bun with the bun in the front of her head. The polka dot kerchief is covering all of her hair except the front where the bun is and a few tiny pieces on the sides and there are a few tiny pieces at the back of her neck sticking out. Her left ear is outside the kerchief while her right ear is tucked inside in the kerchief. She is wearing some makeup but it looks professional. She has on mascara with a light brown eye shadow. Her eyes are diagonal as if they are looking slightly over but directly at you when looking at the poster. Her lips have a light pinkish red tone to them. Her lips are closed together but also pushed out a little to express her facial expression. Her eyebrows are perfectly shaped. Her right eyebrow is raised while her left eyebrow is normal. Her overall facial expression is a stern and serious which helps to show the women that she is a tough woman. Her one arm is flexed with her hand in a fist. Her other arm is pulling up her uniform to help show off her muscles. Her fingernails are painted a light neutral tan color.
Above her in a blue speech bubble in bold white letters says, “We can do it!” The background of the poster is a solid yellow color.

At the bottom of the poster is a blue strip. On the right side of the poster are the words “War Production Co-Ordinating Committee” and the WestingHouse logo at the bottom. The logo is of a big white “W” in a gray circle with the words “WestingHouse” warping around the outside circle in blue. On the left side of the poster in the blue strip it says “ Post Feb. 15 to Feb. 28.” Above the date is the signature of J. Howard Miller. Furthermore, it is important to notice the color choices used in this poster. The color choices of Rosie’s uniform and kerchief are red, white, and blue, which are the colors of the American flag. The colors of her uniform show her sense of patriotism. The yellow background gives the sense of happiness and hope for the women who are entering the work force and getting jobs that were traditionally occupied by

men.
The audience of the poster is aimed at women in hopes to get them to join the work force. The women before the war had domestic jobs such as caring for the home, their children, and husband. This poster was calling on all these women to join to work force as factory workers while the men went off to fight the war. Having a women on a poster helped get many women to join the work force since many women tend to trust other women over men. Rosie’s characteristics, especially her muscular biceps, shows women that Rosie is a strong woman that can do any physical labor job a man can do. Her serious facial expression also helps convey to women that she is tough enough to do a man’s job. With these characteristics, the hopes of the poster was to show that women could be like Rosie. The words “We Can Do It” also helps to instill confidence in the women since they believe they can be like Rosie tough, strong, confident, and capable of doing a man’s job. Had the poster said “You Can Do It” it would have altered how women may have felt. Saying “we” instills unity among the women entering the work force because they feel like they aren’t alone.
Before the 1940’s women were not in the work force.

They had stereotypical domestic jobs such as caring for the home, their children, and husband. The men were considered to be the breadwinners since they were apart of the working class. In 1940 the Rosie the Riveter poster was created to encourage women to enter the workforce while the men were fighting in the war. The poster was only created for the purpose of getting women to work while the war was going on but was never created to keep women in the workforce. The poster of Rosie who is suppose to be this strong everyday housewife was used in hopes to show women that anyone can work and it’s not just for men. The ad was successful since the women could relate to Rosie and they began to work in the factories to keep them running and helped to supply war supplies. The women when the war ended were then encouraged to return to their domestic duties and the men were to return to their factory jobs. However, women did not solely return to their domestic duties but instead remained apart of the working class. This began the second shift where women went to work and when they came home still had to perform their domestic duties. The impact of the 1940’s need for work has given women the ability to become the breadwinners. Women are being encouraged to go to school and get a career were they could strive. More women are becoming the larger part of the professional workforce and obtaining high professional

positions.