History of Medicine Images, Producers, Viewers What are health
posters designed to do? The first job of the health poster is to
recruit the viewer’s gaze. Like the commercial advertisement —
which disturbs, seduces, entertains, annoys — the health poster
will do almost anything to get the attention of its public. The
cultural expectation is that the health poster — like the
commercial advertisement — will exert a powerful effect on the
behavior of the public. Through a combination of rational
argument and emotionally affecting imagery, the health poster
will persuade or motivate viewers to carry a handkerchief, see a
doctor, get an x-ray, use a condom, refrain from drinking
unsanitary water, get vaccinated, give money to a health
advocacy organization, etc. The different styles, approaches and
figurations reflect differing views of what posters can do. Each
poster belongs to a singular historical and cultural moment: a
particular health campaign, disease, institution, set of
professional and public constituen