National World War I Museum Vice President of Museum Programs Eli Paul discusses the role marketing, and specifically printed posters, played in shaping public opinion during World War I on Thursday, August 20, at 6:30 p.m. at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St.

World War I posters told Americans what to do – be it to enlist, conserve, buy bonds, or hate the “Huns” – and they worked remarkably well. The United States government, under the direction of Kansas City’s George Creel and his Committee on Public Information, combined art and advertising with propaganda and patriotism to create the sound bites of their day and to shape public opinion.

Paul will discuss how these “repetitive and influential tools of war” were used during the conflict and how museums use them today to tell the story of World War I.

More than 300,000 people have visited the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial since its December 2006 grand opening and have seen the dozens of World War I posters from the museum’s world-class historical collections. The century-old documents still elicit strong emotional responses from modern audiences.

Watch at c-span.org