Proper Propaganda

The latest iteration of the image based poster which would be rolled out near the end of the campaign. Still needs to go further towards the whole “dystopian future” idea.

On Friday morning I met with my project mentor, Marc Stoiber, principle of Change Design, a Vancouver based firm to discuss the status and revisions of the project. We went over the new context and planned deliverables, which, for simplicity’s sake (not to mention my sanity), I’m going to try and outline clearly here, along with excerpts of what we discussed.

Ration Book Mailer
Print-based mailed artifact, released concurrently with the Simple Poster Campaign.
Book, approximately five pages, small scale (4″ x 6″) which simulates the ration books used in the United States during the Second World War to control the distribution and sale of goods, and to prevent hoarding of resources. The book would include coupons for the purchase of products under high demand and scarce availability, such as gasoline, oil, wheat products (due to use in ethanol production), water, and energy.
The reverse of the coupon pages would list conservation tips for the various resources represented, as well as making the most of slim stocks of the products. This would allow for the communication of the underlying message of scarcity of necessities, as well as subtly providing background info on the reason for the depletion of that resource. The artifact will be treated as a real object, and no clarification will be given on the fictional nature of the campaign. Contact information will be given in the form of the fictional government website.
Note: None of the deliverables are in a form even approaching a final version, so be advised, I know the green looks awful. The example is just a digital sketch.

Image Based Poster
This is a bone of contention.
If the idea of the scary future is to carry through, this would be where it would mainly be happening. The principle idea was to have an single-image based poster series for display in public locations (billboards, transit centers, etc) which would portray a grim portrait of a future saturated with ecologically themed government propaganda. Which is all well and good, and sticks with the original concept, and the whole propaganda idea.
The catch is, that since the other deliverables revolve around the idea of creating a false impression that rationing of commodities and shortages are existing now, it sort of cut the propaganda part out of the equation.

Marc suggests that by tying together the ration book mailer and ration poster with an image based campaign that uses the the same visual language of contemporary environmental initiatives (ie BC’s LiveSmart campaign) it creates a full impression of a current government initiative, albeit a one that is ultimately fake. The same sort of idealistic, warm and fuzzy imagery would be used, but the taglines would have a the vaguely manipulative and somewhat sinister tone of ideological propaganda. This views the target of the project as creating awareness of these issues, and how quickly they may arrive, and to some degree might convey the sneaky way they may creep up on us.

One way to unite these ideas somewhat might be to add (very discreetly) the 2018 date to the ration book, the poster, and have the visual posters depict the same grim future (which would bring up a pretty interesting contrast if it made use of the shiny happy imagery), if we assume that the initial ration book mailer and rationing posters are meant as a sort of teaser, then once the secret breaks that it’s fake, these posters get a bit more to the actual point. Yeah, I like it. Oooh, now I’m getting excited again.

Text Based Poster
So this is where the trouble-causing comes in. The idea is to poster these all around town, placing them everywhere from storefronts to telephone poles. The goal would be to place them in locations where the general public would be able to see them, and simulate the distribution of an urgent government notice. The posters would announce a fictional rationing “status” and have a discretely placed date locating it temporally in the year 2018. This hopefully would get overlooked by viewers, possibly presuming a typo. The poster would also have a line which directs readers to a web address for more information.
The key questions that were raised over this potential deliverable were the choice around whether or not to make use of the visual language of something from a desktop publishing bureaucrat in a government office, and cleaning it up and making it look a little better for aesthetic’s sake. That, and the question of potential backlash if the government logo was used were the main questions I addressed to Marc. His response was…vehement.

“What? Make it nice?! Are you kidding?! God, no!” His response on the question of the aesthetic was fairly clear and straightforward. He agreed with my initial desire to make it look as plain and boring as possible in order to keep the message clear, and retain its verisimilitude. On the topic of whether or not to use the logo, he was equally clear.
Marc described an ad that he had created for a small beer company that was rejected by the papers it was intended for, on the grounds that it was too explicit. After they were rejected, they took their case to all of the other papers, promoting the story as “the little brewery against the big boys” and got the story (and the ad) featured in newspapers nationwide. His recommendation for strategy on this campaign is somewhat similar, but a little more engineered.
Make the poster. Distribute it. Don’t wait for a possible backlash from the government, have someone respectable call or write to their MP to express their outrage over this “prank” being pulled on them. When/If the government responds with a cease and desist order, take the story to every paper/blogger that will listen, and play the “Big Government is Trying to Crush This Poor Little Student” angle to generate massive publicity for the project, and thus, the message.

Despite the potential for me to get sued or arrested, I’ve gotta say, it’s a hell of a plan. Guess I better run it by Alex though. On another note, a fellow student helpfully commented on my post of the poster on Flickr to point out that official communications would be bilingual. Something that I had completely missed. Thanks Graham

Flickr Comments
grahamcase Pro User says:
If it was official it would be bilingual…
Posted 5 days ago.

olivelife Pro User says:
awesome.
Posted 4 days ago.

Poster Campaign

Website

The title pretty much says it all.

So, during times of economic crisis, or shortage of resources, one policy that governments use to control the distribution of goods, and ensure that all citizens have access to resources is rationing. “Each person may be given “ration coupons” allowing him or her to purchase a certain amount of a product each month. Rationing often includes food and other necessities for which there is a shortage, including materials needed for the war effort such as rubber tires, leather shoes, clothing and gasoline. Towards the end of the First World War, panic buying in the United Kingdom prompted rationing of first sugar, then meat, for the rest of the war. During World War II rationing existed in many countries including the United Kingdom and the United States.” [wikipedia]

The United States is a key example of rationing in support of the war effort.
“To get a classification and rationing stamps, one had to appear before a local War Price and Rationing Board which reported to the U.S. Office of Price Administration. Each person in a household received a ration book, including babies and small children who qualified for canned milk not available to others. To receive a gasoline ration card, a person had to certify a need for gas and ownership of no more than five tires. All tires in excess of five per driver were confiscated by the government, because of rubber shortages. An A sticker on a car was the lowest priority of gas rationing and entitled the car owner to 3 to 4 gallons of gas per week. B stickers were issued to workers in the military industry, entitling their holder up to 8 gallons of gas per week. C stickers were granted to persons deemed very essential to the war effort, such as doctors. T rations were made available for truckers. Lastly, X stickers on cars entitled the holder to unlimited supplies and were the highest priority in the system. Ministers of Religion, police, firemen, and civil defense workers were in this category.[2] A scandal erupted when 200 Congressmen received these X stickers.[citation needed]

Tires were the first item to be rationed in January 1942 because supplies of natural rubber were interrupted. Soon afterward, passenger automobiles, typewriters, sugar, gasoline, bicycles, footwear, fuel oil, coffee, stoves, shoes, meat, lard, shortening and oils, cheese, butter, margarine, processed foods (canned, bottled and frozen), dried fruits, canned milk, firewood and coal, jams, jellies and fruit butter, were rationed by November 1943.[3] [wikipedia]

The format of a ration book/card may be a potentially effective method for conveying an sense of the situation to come. The piece, which would likely take the form of a card or mailer, would be a ration card for a month in the year 2018 indicating the available allotment of resources which are currently under threat, such as gasoline, water, electricity, foods, etc. The notion being that people will be able to see the result of dwindling resources in a format that would directly apply to their everyday lives. One of the main potential drawbacks of this approach may be a unfamiliarity amongst people today with rationing and how a ration book would work.

Functionality:
“Each ration stamp had a generic drawing of an airplane, gun, tank, aircraft carrier, ear of wheat, fruit, etc. and a serial number. Some stamps also had alphabetic lettering. The kind and amount of rationed commodities were not specified on most of the stamps and were not defined until later when local newspapers published, for example, that beginning on a specified date, one airplane stamp was required (in addition to cash) to buy one pair of shoes and one stamp number 30 from ration book four was required to buy five pounds of sugar. The commodity amounts changed from time to time depending on availability. Red stamps were used to ration meat and butter, and blue stamps were used to ration processed foods.

To enable making change for ration stamps, the government issued ‘red point’ tokens to be given in change for red stamps, and ‘blue point’ tokens in change for blue stamps. The red and blue tokens were about the size of dimes (16 mm) and were made of thin compressed wood fiber material, because metals were in short supply.” [wikipedia]
In order to make the message communicate a bit more readily than this, a much simpler system would be devised, or they would take the form of coupons that would indicate a specific amount of a resource that would be rationed.
This piece could take the form of a single mailer, or of an entire ration book, complete with instructions on how it is to be used. That might make it harder to understand quickly, but allow for more in depth information to be provided. So aside from the general message, the audience might gain tips for conserving resources now, but in a language and form keeping with the ration book format. In other words, include information directing citizens on steps they can take to make the most of things during ration times. Note: That probably didn’t clear up anything. Oh well.

Ten years from now we will be living in a drastically different world than today.
Through the early actions of our society in response to this crisis, we are continuing a constant drive of socially progressive innovation. Resulting from a system of proactive government reforms and a culture of social responsibility we are moving towards a sustainable future. This is supported by letting every citizen know their role and what is expected of them in building this new future.
This is the message of the Eco-Conscious, “Responsibility: The Hallmark of a Bright Future”

Ten years from now we will be living in a drastically different world than today.
Sweeping and drastic reforms will be required from our government to stem the tide of global climate change, mandating a substantial loss of civil liberties. The government will need to instill a new ideology in it’s citizens in order to impose these changes.
This is the message of the New Green Order, “Your Compliance Ensures Our Survival”.

No, I didn’t make this during class before presenting. Whatever would give you that idea?