The Strong-Armed Beauty of Public Heath Posters

If you wanted to rally around a public-health concern like AIDS, you'd join a chat room, post on a discussion board or surf online for support groups. But before the Internet (and HIV, for that matter), public-health campaigns used graphic images and punchy taglines. In the 1860s, French artists introduced colored images that related text and pictures in a newly cohesive manner. By the first world war, these images united the general public, who were facing a time of confusion about the war and their place in society. By rallying around causes like tuberculosis, venereal disease, even 'responsible masculinity,' people were given something important to talk about--and something engaging to look at. By the 1930s and '40s, these posters invited action and built consensus; but now they might seem as outlandish as, well, life without Internet.