A Clear Plate Means a Clear Conscience: Don't Take More Than You Can Eat
A used plate with knife and fork lies on a checked tablecloth, under the slogan 'A clear plate means a clear conscience'. The tell is the moral framing of a food-waste request: leftover food is tied to guilt, an appeal to conscience rather than a stated reason.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- His Majesty's Stationery Office (printed for HMSO by Wm. Brown & Co., Ltd., London); artist James Fitton
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Theme
- Home front
- Event
- World War II
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- 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 (UK Crown copyright, 50 years from publication, expired before 1996; no URAA restoration)
His Majesty's Stationery Office (printed for HMSO by Wm. Brown & Co., Ltd., London); artist James Fitton. National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-46.
Text on the object
A clear plate means A clear conscience Don't take more than you can eat [imprint:] Printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Wm. Brown & Co., Ltd., London, E.C.3. 51-273 [signature:] Fitton
