Russian documentary uses Team Fortress 2 poster as example of WWI propaganda

Wonder how Heavy feels about this.

In Russia, a documentary being shown about Western, state-run propaganda during World War I is illustrated with a fan-drawn poster drawn during a Team Fortress 2 publicity campaign in 2009.

That's it, above, as shown on Russia's Channel One, according to blogger Nikita Likhacehev. The difference in both language and alphabet is probably why few noticed this was a call not to join the Marines or army but to enlist with 'Team Demoman."

In 2009, as TF2 was pushing through a major update, it created a backstory involving a conflict between factions led by two of its classes, Soldier and Demoman, and was encouraging fans to align with either side. This poster was painted by TankTaur of DeviantArt.

Not that the U.S., United Kingdom and France didn't have propaganda apparatuses demonizing their enemies during The Great War; they just didn't look anything like this. Team Fortress 2 launched in 2007, 88 years after the Treaty of Versailles ended the war.

Here's TankTaur's poster, full-size: