---
title: If You Don't Need It... Don't Buy It
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/canada-if-you-dont-need-it-dont-buy-it-1941/
description: A large smiling white elephant wearing a 'For Sale' tag is admired by a small couple, under the words 'If you don't need it... Don't buy it'.
section: Collection
---

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3. If You Don't Need It... Don't Buy It

[![If You Don't Need It... Don't Buy It, 1941 Canada poster: A large smiling white elephant wearing a 'For Sale' tag is admired](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/canada-if-you-dont-need-it-dont-buy-it-1941.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/canada-if-you-dont-need-it-dont-buy-it-1941.jpg)

# If You Don't Need It... Don't Buy It

A large smiling white elephant wearing a 'For Sale' tag is admired by a small couple, under the words 'If you don't need it... Don't buy it'. The 'white elephant' idiom for a costly useless possession is attached to unneeded purchases, and the couple's size shows the temptation.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)

## Text on the object

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

```
If you don't need it...

FOR SALE

DON'T BUY IT

ISSUED BY THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC INFORMATION, UNDER AUTHORITY OF HON. J. T. THORSON, MINISTER OF NATIONAL WAR SERVICES, OTTAWA
EC-1
Printed in Canada

[signature in the picture:] McLaren
```

[← Housewives! Wage War on Hitler - Save](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/canada-housewives-wage-war-on-hitler-save-1941/) [Il y a trop de bavardages \[There is too much chatter\] →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/canada-il-y-a-trop-de-bavardages-indiscretion-est-trahison-french-1941/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [Clay cylinder with the Ehulhul inscription of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, describing work on three temples](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cylinder-nabonidus-ehulhul-inscription-555bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial)
- [Glazed-brick panel with a striding lion, from Babylon (reign of Nebuchadnezzar II)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ishtar-gate-panel-striding-lion-nebuchadnezzar-ii-604bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)