Content note: Contains a racist caricature of a Black railway porter, shown as published in wartime Canada. This object is shown as it was published. Why
That's Why I Buy Victory Bonds!
A grinning railway porter in a red 'PORTER' cap, drawn as a racial caricature, points his thumb toward a soldier with a 'CANADA' shoulder patch embracing a woman on a station platform; the sign reads 'That's why I buy Victory Bonds!'. The tells are plain-folks (an ordinary working man shown as the buyer) and transfer (the homecoming scene lends emotion to the purchase).
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Issuer not printed; artist John Adams (Victory Bonds campaign)
- 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, Race and ethnicity
- 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 (no imprint visible, 1939-1945 Canadian-context poster)
Issuer not printed; artist John Adams (Victory Bonds campaign), National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-684.
Text on the object
PORTER THAT'S WHY I BUY VICTORY BONDS! [shoulder patch:] CANADA [signature:] JOHN ADAMS
