"Don't kid yourself, it's up to you. Stop him" poster
The pattern
This still is filed under Us-versus-them positioning.
Define
The buyer is invited into a side. The product is what we use. The named other is what we refuse.
Mechanism
Identity contrast. Choosing the offer is choosing a group. The out-group does as much work as the claim.
Verdict
The category is crowded
Why it works
The artwork uses intense eye contact and a literal weapon pointed at the viewer to create immediate visceral fear, while the headline cuts through diffusion of responsibility by pointing directly at 'You'.
The big idea
Hitler is lunging at you with a dagger, and nobody else will stop him: the factory worker's own output decides the war.
The offer
No product. Factory workers are asked to stop Hitler through their own work.
The proof
A footer credit: distributed by Dearborn Branch Ford Dealers and approved by the U.A.W.-C.I.O. Labor-Management Committee.
Lines from the ad
Don't Kid Yourself...it's Up to YouSTOP HIM!OUR WORK WILL WIN OR LOSE THIS WARSteal this when
You need to shatter complacency by putting the responsibility for a massive threat squarely on the individual.
The emotion
Written to Fear. It makes the Say move.
Hitler lunges at the viewer with a dagger, and the answer has one owner and one means: Don't Kid Yourself, it's Up to You, and OUR WORK WILL WIN OR LOSE THIS WAR.
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