While Someone Gives His Life – PERSUASIVE WEAPONS

Title	While Someone Gives His Life
Creator	American Red Cross
Date	1917
Format	20.5 x 27 in
Description	This fundraising poster for the Red Cross challenges viewers to consider their participation in the war in relation to those who have sacrificed their lives for the cause. The straight-forward design resembles the membership flag of the Red Cross featured in other posters with the addition of text to guilt the audience into making larger donations. The Red Cross commissioned several posters utilizing this basic design, but with different messages. In this particular poster, the top portion implores the viewer to imagine an unspecific “someone giv[ing] his Life,” and then confrontationally asks “what are you giving?” This strategy to solicit donations through guilt and shame is magnified by the instruction under the bright red cross to simply “think a minute.”
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