The Power of a Poster: Analysis of Political Posters as Strategic Communication Tools in Latin America and Beyond

Abstract

This article analyses political posters from the 1960s to the 1990s in Latin America, uncovered by the exhibition Thinking Inside the Box, as a Strategic Communications tool. A discussion of visual communications theory summarises that the relevance of posters is not only in their message but in what they represent as a mean of communication. A history of their usage, production and consumption is then connected to dictatorships in Latin America in the 20^th century, concluding that posters played a pivotal role as mannifestations of power and recruitment tools in this historical period.