This photo advertisement from World War II is a PRIME example of what the stereotypical ad from that time period looked like. During this period, many wives, mothers, girlfriends, sisters, grandmothers and daughters were left at home in the states while their men went off to fight around the world in countries like Europe, Africa and Asia. Many men had to leave their jobs, their home lives and responsibilities behind. As a result, the government and corporations both started recruiting women to fulfill these positions while men were gone. Women did everything from factory work to starting a women's baseball league. There are various aspects of this advertisement especially worth noting. The first is the first line of the quote, "Longing won't bring him back sooner.." which suggests that American women were miserable during this time without their men, lonely, longing and essentially helpless. Then, the next line states that in order to quell this feeling, they should "GET A WAR JOB!" This line promotes the idea that women would not only be helping themselves and their families in getting a war job, but also their country. Having a war job suggested national pride and patriotism as well as support for the war taking place halfway around the world. The last and most striking note about the ad is the woman herself. She is beautiful and well put together, presenting an image of the clean-cut American woman. Clutching papers to her chest, probably telegrams from her man, she is looking far off into the distance as if she were completely depressed. The image exudes sadness but provides a solution for that sadness.
This war advertisement and many others from that period cannot be considered "bad" I don't think. In fact, they were compelling and encouraged women to fulfill many empty positions. Women contributed enormously to the war effort. However, I do think that the ad is "sketchy" in the way it is playing on the rampant emotions of females everywhere and that it is dipping a little lower than the standards for acceptable advertisements.
Then again, it was the 1940's.
The video "Art is Work" features the graphic artist Milton Glaser who provides a interesting spin on what art can be defined as. His work seems to act as a bridge between reality and fantasy or, what is a dream. Glaser states that art is something that recruits creativity but that also requires business savvy and that more importantly, art serves people by uniting them with a common interest. The photo above is of one of this more famous works and is one that I find particularly creative to look at, since it evokes the emotion of curiosity. 
