RECRUITING FOSTERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11481, 1 September 1915, Page 1

RECRUITING FOSTERS.

GREATEST "WANT ADS." ON RECORD. PICTURE PUDM) THAT BROUGHT ! 50,000 MEN IN A WEEK. j BOSTON. July 10. How the greatest scries of "Want, Ads." hi history has plaved the leadin"' part in the raising of Kitchener s Annv was told yesterday by Charles E. Lauriat, jim.. who has brougnt back from England a collection of cue* hundred posters that made the need of King and country known to every man in the United King dom. They illustrate how advertising, bv an " appeal to the mind and heart through, the eye, served a nation in a crisis. Britain needed men. The problem was to make that need known throughout the British Isles. Publicity by means of posters was the medium decided upon. All England became a Want Ad. page. As a, result the recruits art- -till pouring in. Five words did the work. They were: YOU, TO-DAY. NOW, JOIN, ENLIST! Thev appeared in the largest type on the peters. They "had the punch." They drove tho pictures home and aroused Britain io the spirit with which she is now facing the war —stick-to-it-iveness > They made men stop, think—and enlist. PRESSES. WORK OVERTIME. These powers are ynnng from the presses in 10 000 and 20 000 lots. Several lithograph firms are working overtime on them. In the basement of the War Office, in London, Boy Scouts are working like ben vers, wrapping the posters in bundles and envelopes for distribution broadcast. Britain went into the poster game as she went into the war—slow'y at first, and then with increasing momentum. The first war poster was issued on November 14 last. It was a stolid, conservative, tvpically British product, about as exciting in appearance and text as the old fnmilinr cover of the " Illustrated London News." So were the next doz n n or mof the posters. Then the Parliamentarv Reenrtiue Committee was seized with an atack of American "pep." It put out a poster, showing a woman and a - n"d child watelvng a squad in khaki depart for the front. The text read: "Women of Britain say GO!" And Englishmen went. A sergeant in Trafalgar Square recruited fifty-four men in an hour. Then they went after the stay-at-homes. Another poster showed a young father. A little daughter was on his knee. A son played with his tin soldiers on the floor. And the boy asked: "Daddy, what did YOU do in the great war?" Men and munitions were still needed. All over Britain flashed n poster, showing a soldier ready for the front clasp'ng hands with a workman in an arms factory. The factory and a battle scene were outlined. The appeal was: "WE'RE BOTH InEEDED TO SERVE THE uUNS. "FILL UP THE RANKS"! " PILE UP THE MUNITIONS!" "Somewhere in France" appeared in bright yellow on another poster, a British soldier, three-quarter life size, • thown in black, saying: "Boys! Come along! You're want- ' ed." The posters put it right up to the ■ Individual. One of titan reads: Whv Aren't YOU 1 In Khaki? You'll be Wanted. Enlist at Once. Another smashing effect was produci ed'bv a poster showing some lads. ; "Line Up, Boys! Enlist To-day!' , was all it said. But that was enough. Still another showed a service cap. ; "If the Cap Fits You, Join the Army • To-day!" was its message. The sinking of the Lusitama ; brought out a rush of posters and consequent enlistments. A recruiting of- " fire had been opened in the abandoned office of the Hamburg-American Line in London. For the first few days . one cou'd hardly get near it. [ Two hundred and fifty thousand > handbills were distributed at exits of the Lo"don tube s+at : nns. Ihev made use of the " 5.0.5." code flashed by V o : torpedoed liner. _ But the British ■ Lurned the phrase into ' " SEND OUT SOLDIERS." It was work like this that brought in the recruits until they wore the •*rass on the Law Courts lawns with '< their drilling. Here is a poster that ; helped fill up the ranks of " The bhmy Jid Seventh " : The Lusitania's Call i Is tae oajue as The Call From the Trench. Send out Soldiers to the '< Shiny Oid seventh. Enlist Now' in the Famous 1 7th (City of Loud.) Batt., London Regt. Known at the Front as "The Sun's Own," or " The Shiny Old Seventh. "The Veteran's Farewell" poster is. ' the one credited with bringing in ■ 50,000 men in a week. It showed an actual scene in Old Chelsea, caught by ' a patriotic artist. The veteran is saying: "Good-bye, my lad. I only wish ' [ were young enough to go with yon. ' Then comes the inevitable "ENLIST ; nowi"