Image Analysis Essay

Last week I had a context of practice lecture where we looked at two old advertisements and compared them. I then wrote a short essay comparing the two.

The Uncle Sam Range Advertisement was created in 1876 by Schumacher & Ettlinger in New York. The target audience of the advertisement was Americans and The Uncle Sam Range is a type of stove. At the time that this advertisement was being observed America were celebrating 100 years of independence. This means that in many ways the advertisement is very patriotic showing the red, white and blue colours, like the stars and stripes flag as well as having an hidden meaning. In the advertisement is the world holding a scroll of a list of countries and food while sitting around an American dinner table. This suggests that America are inviting the world to a dinner party as if they are helping poverty of other countries.

The American Dream can also be seen within this advertisement as the individuals look like they are from a higher class and are living a well-fulfilled life. This could be interpreted as America thinking that they are superior and providing for the rest of the world.

The other advertisement for Colonial Progress Brings Home Prosperity made in 1931 has a similar perspective to The Uncle Sam Range as one country believes it is better than another. The advertisement has two images showing East-African transport old style and East African transport new style. The target audience of this advertisement is ruling upper class people and the purpose is to try and persuade these people to invest their money in projects done by the British colony. The advertisement shows imperialism though the images of race and slavery. The advertisements are supposed to show that Britain are helping East Africa be a new world, however this is bias and in todays culture we can see in the images imperialism and demonization, suggesting race superiority through body language, clothing and slaves serving their ‘master’.

 In the Old style poster the women are leading the children. In the 1930’s, East Africa would have been far more civilized then what is being portrayed, however by suggesting this it makes the content of the new style poster look far more advanced, more modernised and developed, therefore far more alluring. Slavery is shown in the advertisement as it shows the men working on the transport. This also suggests that the new world should be led by white men from ruling countries, reinforcing the issue of race superiority.

This demonstrates that The Uncle Sam Range and Transport advertisements are similar in meaning as they both have countries that think they are far more superior and prosperous than others. Technological determinism is also shown in both advertisements and suggest that technology is important for a good quality life. It is clearly presented by the technology of the stove and modes of transport. There is also a great deal of focus on a political agenda, involved showing the power and perceived greatness of the empire.

The main factor of both of the advertisements is the history behind them, they are both biases. The first advertisement by trying to make America look like the greatest and most successful country in the world due to it having 100 years of independence and other countries and races serving America, or being provided to by America. The other advertisement uses imperialism and power of the empire to show and ‘prove’ strength and historical superiority.

There are also many differences between the advertisements; the biggest being the style of illustration. The Uncle Sam’s Range has more realistic illustrations and includes a wild-west style font which backs up the patriotic theme. The East African advertisements illustrations are less detailed and simplified, with a more serious and modern sans serif font.