This Is The Enemy Ad Analysis

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Images created during times of war reveal the tensions and fears that are sparked between nations. Their purpose is to support their own side while inciting fear or anger towards the other party. This poster was created in 1942, titled This is the Enemy, which spread around the United States after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor which occurred December of 1941. This poster depicts the Japanese as an animal who targets “weak” women. Its main purpose was to label the entire Japanese nation as a cruel and animalistic enemy that needed to be taken down. This image represents a major conflict between two nations that are at war and illustrates the biased perceptions that developed as a result. By dehumanizing the Japanese and planting fear in the minds of Americans, it makes it easier for Americans to want to fight back against the people they see now as animals. Poster like this presented in times of war created a rise in racial and cultural stereotypes. …show more content…

This is accomplished because the ad appeals to the American values that relate directly to the era in which it was created. This is because at the time of the war women were seen as weak and defenseless so they depict the women as scared for their lives to appeal to the pathos of the audience. This entices the men, which are depicted as the protectors, to want to take action against the Japanese in order to save their women. This makes it easier for the men to dehumanize the Japanese since they believe they are doing the right thing for their own family. Since, foreigners like the Japanese were already seen as lesser than it furthermore encouraged their mentality of them fighting back as “the right thing to

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