Have You a Red Cross Service Flag?

Description

This poster is an excellent example of the "soft sell" approach in World War I posters. The designer, Jessie Willcox Smith, is especially well known for her illustrations of children's classics such as "Heidi" and "Little Women." Children are her specialty, as can be observed in the lovable, stubby, curly-headed child on this poster. The Child sits at a window enflamed by curtains and points to the family Red Cross flag which is positioned dead center of the window and of the poster. Miss Smith's poster is simple in its color scheme, line and composition, and it is just this simplicity plus the sentimentality of the child and the nostalgic effect of the Christmas wreath that makes this poster a quiet, subtle, yet persuasive appeal and an effective piece of publicity for the American Red Cross.