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
- Date
- 1940
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Department of Munitions and Supply for Canada
- Region
- North America
- Country
- Canada
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Mackenzie King Government
- Leader
- William Lyon Mackenzie King
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Home front, Labor, Economy and finance
- Event
- World War II
- 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 (Canadian Crown copyright, expired; issued by the Department of Munitions and Supply, 1940-1945)
Department of Munitions and Supply for Canada. US National Archives (NARA ID 44267501, 44-PF-569).
Text on the object
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
