Anti War and Santa Claus

For an anti-war campaign, there is a cartoon image presented of an old man wearing an army uniform and holding a gun. This old man happens to have a white beard, a jolly smile, and a big belly; he is in fact Santa Claus. He appears very happy in the picture and is waiving his hand as a form of greeting to his audience. The text in this image says, “Santa Claus has gone to War. Those bad Iraqi boys and girls are getting a little LEAD in their stockings this year!” The background of the poster is in black and the text is written in white and in red.
There is a lot of Pre-Persuasion going on in this propaganda poster, because it portrays the image of Santa Claus, which many people normally take advantage of. The poster illustrates a jolly old man right off the bat, but that happy image soon fades. The text explains that Santa Claus is going to war, and shows him with a gun in his hand. The wholesome figure of Santa Claus has suddenly been destroyed by the notions of war.
In addition to this idea of pre-persuasion, the poster is giving off a particular message that it wants its audience to believe. It plays off the traditional norms about Santa Claus having a “good” and “bad” list, and it targets the children of Iraq. It implies that all Iraqis are bad, and that includes children who are often portrayed as pure and innocent. So, instead of Santa Claus bringing them coal for being bad, they are getting LEAD, which I believe means being shot by Santa’s gun.
This propaganda poster really plays on the audience’s emotions, because Santa Claus is pretty much a well liked figure. Nobody wants to imagine Santa killing children, because he is “supposed” to be making them happy. However, if Santa thinks something is bad, then it must be, because he is known to be a status symbol of good. In a way, Santa Claus is used for Source Credibility, because of his good reputation. In addition to Santa being credible, the poster reads that “This is a Message from the Ministry of Homeland Security.” So, this poster shows that the U.S. government is warranting this behavior of Santa, as well as the rest of the soldiers fighting the war in Iraq.
I really liked this image, because it really followed the four stratagems of propaganda, but made the whole piece satirical at the same time. I can definitely see that this poster is geared toward an anti-war campaign. It shows that the best of people are ok with killing others for the sake of war. I also like this poster, because it mimics the style of World War II Propaganda. However, I think this poster could be improved by making the figure of Santa Claus look more authentic. If the author of this piece added a red hat, I think that would have done the trick. If the poster itself didn’t say that it was Santa Claus, it might not be so obvious to other people, and they may not fully understand the message that is trying to be delivered.