Think - His Life is in Your Hands!

A standing airman in flying gear is drawn on an open giant hand against a blue sky, under the words 'Think - his life is in your hands!'. The tell is the personal-stake appeal: the pilot's survival is put on the viewer's own workmanship, so the poster rests on an implied danger to a named kind of person.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Fear appeal

Date

1939

Period

Second World War

Made by

Director-General of Aircraft Production (Canada), with the Commercial Banks of Canada as donor; artist Sergeant Donald K. Anderson, R.C.A.F.

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

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)
Director-General of Aircraft Production (Canada); artist Sergeant Donald K. Anderson, R.C.A.F., c. 1939-1945. National Archives and Records Administration, NARA ID 44267853 (44-PF-699).

Donald Anderson R.C.A.F.
Think-
his life is in
Your Hands!
DRAWN BY SERGEANT DONALD K. ANDERSON, R.C.A.F. • DISTRIBUTED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF AIRCRAFT PRODUCTION. • DONATED TO CANADA'S WAR EFFORT BY THE COMMERCIAL BANKS OF CANADA.