The use of the 'gold Louis' allowed him not only to emphasize the French Coq, but also to suggest subconsciously that gold needed to be exchanged for paper. The use of the illustrated poster to sell the war loan was a huge success. In this second use of posters, the Government tried to impose an official uniformity on the posters by requiring a common border. Everyone recognized the ineffectiveness of this straight jacket and subsequently never repeated such a requirement. A system of licensing, or visas, was substituted.
Most posters have visa numbers on the bottom.
The French Government became increasingly interested and involved in the use of art as a weapon of war in 1916. The Germans became extremely interested, also. Since the poster was really a democratic and public form of art, it is not surprising that it should become the main carrier of the political messages. The messages themselves were remarkably similar from country to country, but the French poster was perhaps to exercise an inordinate influence because it was to France and Paris that the photographers, reporters, diplomats, and politicians of all the Allied countries came. As mentioned earlier, even the Germans discussed and exhibited French posters during the war itself.