American's Appeal to Ethos

The American poster appeals to ethos of the intended audience: American citizens. The poster portrays dominant Americans with guns, stepping on a communist flag, while raising an enormous flag of the United States. In addition, in the background, Earth is drawn only on the Americas, to further establish the dominance of the United States in international affairs. By establishing a prideful sense of patriotism, the artist of this poster suddenly connects to fellow Americans and becomes credible to the viewer. In addition, in the United States during the 1960s, the red scare was big. Everyone was against communism and people united over the fact that they were anti-communist. By releasing a poster stating, "clean the communist filth," the author automatically builds a bridge by being anti-communist to the audience. To non-American viewers, especially the Russians, this poster is offensive and certainly does not appeal to ethos. How would you feel if another country released a poster with your flag penetrated by bullets and stepped on? But, because Americans are the intended audience for this poster, the artist conveys its message of anti-communism and American patriotism well by appealing to ethos.