---
title: Anything less than your best is DESERTING - It's now or never on the production line
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/canada-anything-less-than-your-best-is-deserting-1940/
description: White brush lettering on a painted brick wall tells the viewer that working at less than one's best 'is DESERTING'.
section: Collection
---

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3. Anything less than your best is DESERTING - It's now or never

[![Anything less than your best is DESERTING - It's now or never on the production line, 1940 Canada poster: White brush](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/canada-anything-less-than-your-best-is-deserting-1940.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/canada-anything-less-than-your-best-is-deserting-1940.jpg)

# Anything less than your best is DESERTING - It's now or never on the production line

White brush lettering on a painted brick wall tells the viewer that working at less than one's best 'is DESERTING', with 'It's now or never on the production line' beneath. The poster takes the military word 'deserting' and applies it to a factory worker's effort, relabelling lower output as a soldier's crime.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Semantic hijacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/semantic-hijack/)

## Text on the object

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

```
Anything less
than your best
is DESERTING

IT'S NOW OR NEVER ON THE PRODUCTION LINE

THIS MESSAGE IS ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF MUNITIONS AND SUPPLY FOR CANADA
```

[← 'Social Security' (British Information Services poster, New York)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/britain-social-security-umbrella-1940/) [With Your Help We'll Beat This in the North Atlantic →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/canada-beat-this-in-the-north-atlantic-1940/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Punch, 'The Jamaica Question' (Tenniel), 23 December 1865](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/punch-jamaica-question-1865/) (United Kingdom · Dec 23, 1865 · Name-calling, Semantic hijacking). Content note: Full-page period caricature of a Black Jamaican man, a white planter and a clergyman, made in the context of the 1865 Morant Bay killings.
- [Re-construction, or 'a white man's government'](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/reconstruction-white-mans-government-currier-ives-1868/) (United States · 1868 · Semantic hijacking). Content note: 1868 pro-Grant print with a racial slur and dialect in its printed speech.
- [True democracy is safe! (Puck)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/puck-true-democracy-is-safe-palmer-1896/) (United States · Sep 30, 1896 · Semantic hijacking)
- [Mr. John Dillon, M.P., on recruiting in Ireland. Join an Irish regiment to-day](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/john-dillon-on-recruiting-in-ireland-1915/) (United Kingdom · 1915 · Testimonial, Semantic hijacking)
- [Auch die Geduld hat ein Ende (Even Patience Has an End), German-language leaflet for German soldiers](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/allied-leaflet-auch-die-geduld-hat-ein-ende-1918/) (Transnational · 1918 · Scapegoating, Semantic hijacking)
- [Battle for Fuel: Use Less Coal & Coke](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/battle-for-fuel-use-less-coal-coke-uk-1939/) (United Kingdom · 1939 · Semantic hijacking)
- [The Battle for Fuel: Use less water](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-battle-for-fuel-use-less-water-1939/) (United Kingdom · 1939 · Semantic hijacking)
- ['Zeitaku wa teki da!' (Luxury Is the Enemy!) street sign, Tokyo](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/luxury-is-the-enemy-sign-1940/) (Empire of Japan · Aug 1, 1940 · Semantic hijacking, Identity fusion)