Brains Behind Broadcast Behavior-The Science of British WWII Homefront Propoganda

Abstract

From 1939-1943 Britain’s prime minister, Sir Winston Churchill, was set on persuading the British to continue fighting in WWII, so that Hitler would not be able to subjugate Great Britain, as he had already done with a great majority of Europe. Public support was needed, so the government embarked on a massive propaganda campaign aimed at persuading the British people to do everything necessary to support and aid the war effort. The propaganda took many forms: political rhetoric, music, posters, postcards, advertisements, and newspapers. Together these disparate media represent not just the basis of the British government’s effort to influence public opinion regarding the war effort, but contributed to the establishment of a distinct material culture. The propagandistic material culture was designed and distributed tactically, with the behavioral effects of the people in mind.

“We had to go. We had to defend ourselves.  If it hadn’t been for Churchill then, and the way people fought —it was very much in the balance at times —whether we were going to win, because Germany had been banking up on ammunition and planes and ships and things.  We really were against it” (Interview, June 2016, Oxford –a young teen during WWII).