Soviet's Appeal to Ethos

The Soviet propaganda poster appeals to ethos, the author’s credibility in relation to the audience. The positive tone in the poster creates a sense of hope for the audience, making the viewers of the poster trust the author. The audience of this picture sees the boy enjoying time with his model space ship, and therefore can assume the boy, representing Russian youth, will successfully contribute to the space race for his country. The rocket, dividing the present from the future, establishes the notion that the present yields little space race progress, but, as the space race progresses and the red rocket flies across the poster, the true success of the space race will be revealed. The future will consist of rockets and spaceships flying in the galaxy’s vast abyss. The artist of this poster does not claim immediate success in the space race, but rather success in the future. By not promising immediate results, the artist appeals to ethos. The audience believes the artist to be honest because immediate results are unlikely. With time and motivated teens, the space race in Russia will continue to thrive. This poster does not address foreign, non-Russian audiences. Unlike the American propaganda poster, it treats all views fairly by not including any degrading propaganda about other nations. Although the intended audience for this poster is Russians, if a foreigner viewed this poster, he/she would think the artist is fair and unbiased.