---
title: America's Alertmen. Learn to Spot 'Em!
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/americas-alertmen-learn-to-spot-em-1942/
description: 'Two big-faced cartoon figures: a bucktoothed, squinting Japanese officer says in mock pidgin ''Him very friendly plane'' beside a rising-sun-marked plane.'
section: Collection
---

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3. America's Alertmen. Learn to Spot 'Em!

**Content note:** Racial caricature of a Japanese officer with exaggerated teeth and mock pidgin speech ('Him very friendly plane'), as printed in 1942. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![America's Alertmen. Learn to Spot 'Em!, 1942 US poster: Two big-faced cartoon figures](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/americas-alertmen-learn-to-spot-em-1942.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/americas-alertmen-learn-to-spot-em-1942.jpg)

# America's Alertmen. Learn to Spot 'Em!

Two big-faced cartoon figures: a bucktoothed, squinting Japanese officer says in mock pidgin 'Him very friendly plane' beside a rising-sun-marked plane, while a bewildered American soldier rubs his chin. Headed 'Learn to Spot 'Em!'. The racial caricature carries the name-calling; the unspotted plane is the fear-appeal.

## 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

```
America's Alertmen
LEARN TO
SPOT 'EM!
"Him very
friendly plane"
[imprint:] FORM NO. 64 8/31/42
THIS IS NO.11 IN A SERIES OF POSTERS ON
THE WRONG-DOINGS OF "BENNY THE BUNGLER". DON'T BE LIKE HIM!
[imprint:] PRODUCED BY
HEADQUARTERS
ANTIAIRCRAFT ARTILLERY COMMAND
EASTERN DEFENSE COMMAND
SANDERFORD JARMAN
MAJOR GENERAL, U.S. ARMY
COMMANDING
```

[← Americans! Share the Meat as a Wartime Necessity](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/americans-share-the-meat-1942/) [America's Alertmen! Meet Benny the Bungler →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/americas-alertmen-meet-benny-1942/)

## 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)