Content note: Caricatures of Axis figures, including a dark-skinned figure with exaggerated red lips and a Japanese officer with bared teeth, drawn in racial-stereotype style. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Be sure you have correct time!
Cartoon bust of three caricatured Axis figures (a German officer, a dark-skinned figure in a fez with exaggerated red lips, a Japanese officer with round glasses and bared teeth) looking at a photograph of the airman Gooney, with a verse calling him 'not worth a dime' as a prisoner of war. The technique is name-calling through caricature, joined to a fear-appeal about capture if the watch is wrong.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Army Air Forces (artist: Lantz)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Own forces
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- War and the military, Home front
- Event
- World War II
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- 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 Posters, retrieved October 4, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
U.S. Army Air Forces. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1391A (NAID 515050).
Text on the object
A TIME “TICK” TO GOONEY WAS A TERRIBLE BORE SOMETHING HE FELT HE COULD EASILY IGNORE HE TOOK HIS SHOTS AND IGNORED THE TIME AS A PRISONER OF WAR HE’S NOT WORTH A DIME! BE SURE YOU HAVE CORRECT TIME! You’re lost even with a sextant if your watch is wrong. [signature:] LANTZ [imprint:] ☆ U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1943—O—500830
