During the First World War poster design and production was controlled through government agencies such as the Parliament Recruitment Committee in Britain, the Division of Pictorial Publicity in the United States, and the Victory Loan Dominion Publicity Committee in Canada. Posters were generally large, and printed on poor quality paper in large quantities, 500,000 for the American That Liberty Shall Not Perish From The Earth and 65,000 for the Canadian Victory Bonds Will Help Stop This.

The real horrors of war were generally avoided in posters, but commonly recognized symbols like the spiked helmet and German eagle were used as identifiers. At the same time the flag, the Statue of Liberty and ethnic humour glorified the Allies. In addition, the symbolic use of women portrayed as victims was particularly effective.