Mobilizing a Nation: Persuasive Appeals in Vietnamese War Posters

Abstract

How did the government of North Vietnam use propaganda posters during the Vietnam War (1955–1975) to rally Vietnamese people's support of its war efforts and successfully drive the Americans out of Vietnam? Through an interpretive analysis of the iconography and texts found in 141 posters, this study demonstrates four thematic appeals in Vietnamese posters during the Vietnam War: 1/ Emotional appeals (hate and sympathy; pride and indomitability); 2/ Social unity (dedication; allegiance and solidarity); 3/ Authority and leadership; and 4/ Idealized future. The study delivers fresh insights for research in social marketing, communication, art history, political science, and Asian studies.

Book Review: Capitalism and the Senses by Regina Lee Blaszczyk and David Suisman

“…Yet, even communist countries have deployed aesthetics for societal purposes. Fox (2009) and Nguyen (2023) have reported in this journal how the regimes in the Soviet Union and North Vietnam made good use of the poster medium for improving public health and for building wartime morale. It would be surprising if communist marketing systems did not somehow manipulate the senses of taste, sound, smell, and touch in their own ways.…”