Monday, October 3, 2016

Lacking Logos in "After Total War Can Come Total Living"


The 1950's government ad, which states "After Total War Can Come Total Living," takes a pro-war stance and is geared toward the general American population. When viewed in the context of the Vietnam war, this ad does not make a logical argument on two terms -- the lack of credibility the government has and the unsupported  argument of pro-war. As the anti-war movement gained momentum, many people turned to the government as the source of blame. Americans, especially young adults, viewed their government as untrustworthy and in some cases, heartless. This was because they kept sending young men to battle in a war a majority of the public deemed to be unnecessary. If the government lacks credibility, their ad will be useless in gaining interest in supporting the war. The ad continues to make a poor appeal to logos, as its slogan and design convey the message that war is necessary to achieve a utopian society. This argument is not logical because it dealt with the future of America instead of its present state (at the time). The ad does address soldiers going off to war, or any violence that war entails. If anything, the illogical state of the ad may have gained the government even more protesters. If the slogan was taken out, this ad could have been taken as an ad for a shopping mall or a movie. In order to have added credibility to the argument of war, the ad should have included a  picture depicting soldiers as brave and heroic, such as this ad from WWII (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/BuyWarBonds.jpg). Depicting what the Americans were fighting for could have made a much more sound pro-war argument.

6 comments:

  1. I like that this post questions if logic is used at all in the text. That is a good note to not try to argue for something that isn't present but to critique the text as well. I also like that you gave options for possible improvements to the message. The analysis is strong in this post and overall does a great job of fully assessing the appeal to logos of this image.

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  4. I believe this argument is based more in pathos and emotional appeal than logic. The propaganda wants the audience to have hope and change their minds off of a potential better situation.

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  5. I agree that the picture does not relate to being pro war. But I think they're saying is somewhat logical because it says if war happens, then a bright future is possible.

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  6. I agree that the picture does not relate to being pro war. But I think they're saying is somewhat logical because it says if war happens, then a bright future is possible.

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