Forensic Research Archive of Manipulation and Exploitation
The Lives of These Men Depend on Your Work, 1939 Canada poster: A machinist works at a lathe beneath RAF-marked fighters

The Lives of These Men Depend on Your Work

A machinist works at a lathe beneath RAF-marked fighters and a burning aircraft with a swastika on its tail, tying the lathe to the aircraft overhead. The tell is the headline 'The lives of these men depend on your work', which transfers the pilots' risk onto the worker's output.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

TransferFear appeal
Date
1939
Period
Second World War
Made by
Director General of Aircraft Production (Canada); donated by Canadian Car and Foundry Company Limited
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
Labor, War and the military, Home front
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, 50 years from publication, expired; no URAA restoration)
Director General of Aircraft Production (Canada), c. 1939-1945; donated by Canadian Car and Foundry Company Limited. U.S. National Archives, Record Group 44.

Text on the object

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

THE LIVES OF THESE MEN
DEPEND ON Your WORK

PRINTED IN CANADA
Published and distributed under the authority and
direction of the Director General of Aircraft Production
Donated to Canada's War Effort by Canadian Car and Foundry Company Limited

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