Women of Britain Say – ‘Go!’

Parliamentary Recruiting Committee1915

Women of Britain Say – ‘Go!’ is a 1915 recruitment poster (colour lithograph) for Parliamentary Recruiting Committee.

E. J. Kealey's 1915 poster 'Women of Britain say – Go!': a woman in a yellow gown, an older woman in a dark shawl and a small boy stand at an open window watching a line of soldiers with rifles march past green hills See the original
Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira, via Wikimedia Commons — public domain

The line

Women of Britain say – "Go!"

Why it works

Instead of addressing men, this 1915 recruitment poster recruits the people closest to them to do the persuading. E. J. Kealey paints women and a small boy at an open window, watching a column of soldiers march away across green hills, under the headline "Women of Britain say – Go!". The National Army Museum dates it to March 1915, when it was published as Parliamentary Recruiting Committee poster no. 75 and Britain still depended on volunteers. The Imperial War Museums uses it to show how recruiters applied the techniques of commercial advertising, and its catalogue points to a double message: women are pictured as needing protection while also being asked to push their men into uniform. It is studied for its indirect targeting, speaking to the influencer rather than the person who has to act, and for turning private family pressure into a public recruiting tool. Copies are held by the Imperial War Museums, the National Army Museum and Auckland War Memorial Museum.

Techniques

  • Pathos Women and a small boy watching soldiers march away cast women as needing protection while enlisting them to push their own men into uniform.
  • Bandwagon The headline speaks for all the women of Britain at once, implying a national consensus that the reluctant recruit is defying.

Sources · 3

  1. Women of Britain Say 'Go!' (collection record, Art.IWM PST 2763) Imperial War Museums · iwm.org.uk
  2. First World War Recruitment Posters Imperial War Museums (IWM Learning) · iwm.org.uk
  3. 'Women of Britain Say - Go' National Army Museum · collection.nam.ac.uk

Updated

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