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Buy Indian Rice
Halfsheet vintage advertising piece titled
"E.M.B. / Buy Indian Rice", created by the artist Frederick C. Herrick in the circa 1930s. It was produced as part of a campaign by the British government's Empire Marketing Board (EMB).
Poster Details

Artist: Frederick C. Herrick (1887–1970).
Organization: Empire Marketing Board (EMB).
Purpose: The EMB was established in 1926 to encourage British consumers to buy products sourced from within the British Empire, aiming to stimulate imperial trade during an interwar economic depression.
Campaign: This specific poster promoted the purchase of rice from India, which was part of the British Empire at the time.
Style: The EMB commissioned well-known commercial artists to produce visually striking posters, often featuring bold colors and modern graphic design, which were displayed on large public billboards and distributed to schools and shops across Britain.

Historical Context
The poster was part of Britain's first peacetime propaganda campaign using mass communication techniques. The goal was to instill a preference for empire-grown goods and present an idealized vision of an interconnected, cooperative empire. The EMB was ultimately dissolved in 1933 after the introduction of a formal system of tariffs known as Imperial Preference, which made the board's non-tariff promotional efforts redundant.
Buy Indian Rice - Mounted (Poster)
Mounted
Buy Indian Rice (Poster)