This advertisement may seem a bit old now, but that’s because it was released at the beginning of the US involvement in World War 2. Once the United States entered the war, they wanted to build up as many troops as they could, and so released advertisements such as this one to attempt to convince men to enlist. This advertisement is a subtle about its appeal to KAIROS, but war time is the best time to release ads like this. People are seeing the devastating affects the war is having at home, and so an image of Uncle Sam preparing to go to war should be able to convince some into joining the war efforts. The use of Uncle Sam, the bald eagle, and the American flag make the viewer believe that it is their civic duty to go and enlist in the army, but this may not have worked had it not already been a time of war. People pay very little attention to military propaganda outside of major war times, as evident by the low enlisting rate currently, but during high stress times of war, especially ones as large as WWII, military propaganda starts to become a part of daily life.
This advertisement gives off a strong sense of urgency due to the way that Uncle Sam and the eagle are depicted. Uncle Sam is rolling up his sleeves, appearing to be going straight to war, and the way the eagle is flying looks like he is going in for the kill.
There is a strong subtle emotional appeal going on in this ad as well. By depicting Uncle Sam as the one preparing to go to war, the ad is attempting to make people feel bad about not joining the army when they look at it. They are trying to make viewers be upset that since they are not the ones joining the army, one of the nation’s symbols has to do it himself.
It is understandable that the US army would use advertisements like this, as they were extremely desperate during the war for people to enlist, but it is still questionable whether or not the United States should be advertising for this at all. This ad doesn’t even mention the draft, which we now know came later on.
Personally, I am not convinced by this ad due to it being from a different time period. The KAIROS appeal does not work during times of relative peace, but I can infer that the people back during WWII might just have been persuaded.
The US army saw the opportunity to persuade people into joining the army, and they took it, creating an advertisement with relatively subtle appeals to KAIROS.