This pair of posters set the session off to an interesting start since the student-audience was not sure which qualified as ‘positive’ propaganda. The presenting group (avid video game-enthusiasts themselves) wanted to address and counter popular negative connotations around this medium, promoting the stress-busting and psychological relief aspect of video games. The group explained that they designed the poster keeping in mind what might seem appealing and hold the promise of a community to some ‘lonely videogame enthusiast’. Responses from the other students included\u2014the message is confusing because the guns and caution sign exactly symbolize the negative perceptions, so those who don’t already play videogames will be distracted by those and not notice any ‘positives’; more non-gamers are likely to see the poster, so where the poster is put up is important.<\/p>\n
The ‘Communism Needs You’ poster seemed to puzzle the student-audience, while still evoking rather strong responses\u2014was it positive or negative, why Stalin? One student from the audience stated that it was negative because it ‘imposes’ an ideology, which a student of the presenting group countered with\u2014 ‘Don’t all the posters?’, allowing me room to initiate a brief discussion on agency and ideology, drawing from their responses.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Group 4<\/strong><\/p>\n This group of students, interestingly enough, was the only group that had not chosen each other, but had simply formed a group out of all those who hadn’t yet picked groups.\u00a0 As negative propaganda, this group made a ‘revive nazism’ poster, complete with Hitler and swastika. The audience’s observations included\u2014the words are in german, which no one in the audience could read\/understand; that the US and UK flags are torn is not visible unless zoomed into; If the poster-designer is trying to revive nazism, why is there a hazard symbol? For their positive propaganda exercise, they picked world peace. The audience did not find much to comment on until one of them remarked that it looked like a business deal \u2014 the presenting group hotly refused this interpretation and a lively debate ensued that ended up, with some help from me, at a discussion on contemporary wars and the role of commerce and profit-making in them.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/0318da2.netsolhost.com\/pwarchive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/image-1.png\")
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