When I first saw this I immediately thought of it's political values. Reviewing the date it was made, I thought perhaps the poster could represent almost a 100 year celebration of America's independence. The main focus of the poster, for me, was Uncle Sam himself, as he is centered and his arrogance draws attention to him, therefore I thought the poster was communicating America and its importance/power.
However, I then realised that 'The Uncle Sam Range', was in fact a literal range of ovens, although they were still being advertised through the power-driven America, that can feed the world apparently. This lead me to believe that this poster has an obvious purpose (to sell/advertise the 'Uncle Sam Range' of ovens, but also America is secretly over reacting their importance and patronising the world and its countries. The 'bull of fare' the world is holding, is a list of the food the world has ordered, rudely each country's appetite has been generalised, e.g China apparently would order grasshoppers from Uncle Sam. This way of being able to list all the countries and their favoured food not only patronises them but also increases America's power. America also comes across as very cultural, as their knowledge and fraudulent 'interest' in the world's taste could be seen as praisable.
The audience seems to be towards middle/upper class Americans, who wish for the American dream, the range of Uncle Sam's ovens may have seemed as a way to buy the American Dream.
This is a piece of World War 1 propaganda, its aim is to persuade men to contribute in the Great War. The image is of a Father who may/may have not contributed in the Great War, but either way his daughter is asking him what HE did in the Great War. Judging on the shameful expression on his face it seems he has nothing to say to that, however whether he contributed or not is left open for the reader to decide. The clear reference to War (the boy playing with toy soldiers and the girl reading about it in a history book) shows that the Great War is one to be remembered and also admired. This persuades men to go to war because surely they wouldn't want to be in the position where it seems they have let down their family. This poster communicates a lot of guilt. The imagery of it as well is stereotypically family/pleasant/homely, with his daughter on his lap, he will want to have his own story and seem patriotic towards his children.
He is also surrounded by British references, the royal soldiers that the boy plays with and the crest on the arm chair. This emphasises patriotism, fighting for your country, if you have nothing to answer to how you helped your country, you will be reminded of it every day.
The text is also very effective, using the word 'Daddy', not only suggests innocence from the little girl but also personalises the poster, when the fact his daughter is included the question suddenly increases in importance, because there is an element of impressing. 'YOU' is also high in impact, it once again personalises it and also directly aims it at the reader, YOU are now involved.
The image also makes the war seem appealing because it conviniently doesn't advertise any of the grusemness of war, the fact the 'daddy' is sitting on his arm chair, with all limbs still attatched, and a dull expression on his face because he didn't contribute. Realistically, he would probably be traumatised and have some sort of injuries. This poster suggests living happily ever after, if you fight in the Great War.
