From another book created by the U.S. Information Agency in the early 1950s, held in the National Archives. This one was made in order to promote the use of advertising and marketing methods—identifying an audience, selling a product, appealing to desires, branding, visual appeal—in U.S. foreign relations.
In addition to some remarkable racism, the book has some striking things to say about how information moves, or should be moved. On this page, for example, the unidentified authors argue for avoiding words and using images instead to communicate what they see as simple truths.
I think we can all agree on the (sometimes creepy) power of images to communicate ideas and promote allegiance to a brand. All the same, though, I’m not sure that this photo says “Let’s defeat communism, fellow freedom-lovers!” as much as “Ohmygodthebearisgoingtoeatthatguy!”
