Look Ahead - Foresight is Better than Hindsight

Two uniformed men in service caps look on as a well-dressed man with a portfolio walks beside the word 'Foresight', while a ragged man with a patched seat is drawn under 'Hindsight'. The tell is the contrast of prosperity with visible poverty as the cost of not saving, tied to the post-war period and the purchase of War Savings Certificates.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Fear appeal

Date

1939

Period

Second World War

Made by

Issuer not printed on the sheet (War Savings Certificates campaign, Canada)

Region

North America

Country

Canada

Medium

Poster

Issuer type

State

Regime

Mackenzie King Government

Leader

William Lyon Mackenzie King

Audience

Domestic public

Purpose

Fundraise

Themes

Economy and finance, Home front

Event

World War II

Source

Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure

Source

U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026

Rights

Held by NARA, Unrestricted; hosted by owner decision (Canadian wartime poster, 1939-1945)
Issuer not printed (War Savings Certificates campaign, Canada). National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-639.

LOOK AHEAD
FORESIGHT
IS BETTER THAN
HINDSIGHT...
DON'T BE BEHIND IN THE POST-WAR RECONSTRUCTION
PERIOD - PREPARE NOW BY BUILDING UP A
SAVINGS BACKLOG THROUGH
WAR SAVINGS CERTIFICATES