---
title: Absent without reason...is this you? The Army calls it desertion!
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/absent-without-reason-desertion-tcop-1941/
description: Factory scene with a blank white silhouette at a press, captioned 'is this you?', under 'Absent without reason' and 'The Army calls it DESERTION!'.
section: Collection
---

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3. Absent without reason...is this you? The Army calls it desertion!

[![Absent without reason...is this you? The Army calls it desertion!, 1941 US poster: Factory scene with a blank white](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/absent-without-reason-desertion-tcop-1941.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/absent-without-reason-desertion-tcop-1941.jpg)

# Absent without reason...is this you? The Army calls it desertion!

Factory scene with a blank white silhouette at a press, captioned 'is this you?', under 'Absent without reason' and 'The Army calls it DESERTION!'. The poster applies a military crime label to a worker's absence (name-calling) and asks the viewer to see himself in the empty figure.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/) [Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
ABSENT WITHOUT REASON
is this you?
THE ARMY CALLS IT DESERTION!
TCOP TAXPAYERS' COMMITTEE
[signature:] Don Shephard
```

[← AAF Report: An Exclusive Film for War Workers](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/aaf-report-film-poster-1941/) [Don't let the Absenteeism Bug get you: days worked save lives →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/absenteeism-bug-days-worked-save-lives-1941/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Behistun (Bisotun) rock relief and trilingual inscription of Darius I: the king, two attendants and the bound rebel leaders beneath the winged figure of Ahuramazda](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/behistun-relief-darius-and-rebels-521bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Name-calling, Testimonial). Content note: Shows bound captives before the king, and the inscription records the mutilation and public execution of rebel leaders, as the king's own account.
- [Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521/) (Electoral Saxony · 1521 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [Anacoana fut pendue sans raison (engraving in Le miroir de la cruelle et horrible tyrannie espagnole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anacoana-hanged-miroir-tyrannie-espagnole-1620/) (Dutch Republic · 1620 · Fear appeal, Name-calling). Content note: Engraving of a hanged, bare-breasted Taino woman, burning huts and people being killed by Spanish soldiers.
- [Ondersoeckt de Geesten, ofse van den Duyvel syn, of niet (the De Witt brothers as devils)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ondersoeckt-de-geesten-de-witt-devils-1672/) (Dutch Republic · 1672 · Scapegoating, Name-calling)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (Great Britain · 1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [The North Briton, No. XLV, 23 April 1763 (John Wilkes), opening page](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/north-briton-no-45-wilkes-1763/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Apr 23, 1763 · Name-calling)
- [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Province of Massachusetts Bay · Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking). Content note: Hand-coloured engraving of bloodied dead and wounded colonists after soldiers fired on a crowd.
- [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (France · 1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)