John Falter created over 300 designs for Navy recruitment posters during WWII. The Navy was looking for educated, capable, virtuous, and feminine women. Accordingly, Falter's WAVES are simultaneously glamorous and serious. Obviously, many WAVES did not resemble the beautiful, perfectly-proportioned poster gals. The tactics employed by the Navy’s recruiting bureau in the posters mirrored those of national advertisements and mass media at the time.