Forensic Research Archive of Manipulation and Exploitation
Wanted: Scrap Metal...To Make Tanks, Shells, Guns, 1939 Canada poster: Household scrap

Wanted: Scrap Metal...To Make Tanks, Shells, Guns

Household scrap (an iron, chains, a pan, pipe, a fork, a key) tumbles above a black 'WANTED Scrap Metal to make' banner, with a tank, a shell and a gun below. The tell is the visual link between kitchen scrap and weapons (transfer); the bottom line directs readers to a local salvage committee.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Transfer
Date
1939
Period
Second World War
Made by
Director of Public Information for the National Salvage Office, Ottawa, under the Minister of National War Services (J. T. Thorson); artist Surrey
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, Economy and finance
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 of Public Information / National Salvage Office, Canada; artist Surrey, 1939-1945. U.S. National Archives (NAID 44267903).

Text on the object

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

WANTED
SCRAP METAL
TO MAKE

TANKS   SHELLS   GUNS

Surrey

Get in touch with your local salvage committee

ISSUED BY THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC INFORMATION FOR NATIONAL SALVAGE OFFICE, OTTAWA, UNDER AUTHORITY OF HONOURABLE J. T. THORSON, MINISTER OF NATIONAL WAR SERVICES. Printed in Canada. MS-2E

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