Blood donation on posters: a worldwide review

Originally pasted on walls and on locations reserved specially for that purpose, the poster is a medium for advertising and promotion to be seen on the streets and in public places. More recently, it has spread, in a smaller format, on dedicated indoor sites: billboards, columns, street furniture, and so forth. For transfusion, it appeared early on that the poster constitutes an important medium to promote blood donation. Thousands of posters supporting regional, national, or international blood donation campaigns have been created all over the planet, with a great variability of images, symbols, and slogans, which are particularly revealing about the image and the reality of blood donation. The topic is rich in information, particularly sociologic, on the variety of ways in which transfusion organizations promote blood donation. The authors present in this article the results of a study based on a total of 283 posters from nations on every continent, divided into 24 different themes.