Content note: Racial caricature of a Japanese figure beside caricatures of Hitler and Mussolini, shown as published in a British wartime poster. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Are You One of These? 80 Absentees - 80 Tons Lost or One Tank Less (Ssh - Don't Wake Him)
A sleeping man in bed is shown above caricatured faces of Hitler, a Japanese figure and Mussolini, fingers to lips: 'Ssh - don't wake him'. The tell is the caricature of the Axis leaders, with the loss of 80 tons of coal framed as 'one tank less', which presents absence from work as help to the enemy.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Ministry of Fuel and Power (printed for HMSO by W. R. Royle & Son Ltd.); artist John T. Roe, a miner
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Labor, Home front
- Event
- World War II
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (UK Crown copyright, 50 years from publication, expired before 1996; no URAA restoration)
Ministry of Fuel and Power (printed for HMSO by W. R. Royle & Son Ltd.); artist John T. Roe, a miner. National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-73.
Text on the object
ARE YOU ONE OF THESE? 80 ABSENTEES-80 TONS LOST OR ONE TANK LESS Drawn by a Miner JOHN T. ROE SSH- DON'T WAKE HIM [imprint:] ISSUED BY THE MINISTRY OF FUEL AND POWER PRINTED FOR H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE BY W. R. ROYLE & SON, LTD. 51-3595 E. 4.3.
