Conserve and you serve Uncle Sam
Hotel-industry waste-reduction sheet: a large open hand in a uniform cuff holds crockery, linens, a lamp bulb and furniture, set against red-and-white stripes under the headline 'Conserve and you serve Uncle Sam'. The technique is transfer: the flag colours and Uncle Sam attach national service to hotel thrift.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- American Hotel Association
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Corporation
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Home front, Economy and finance
- Event
- World War II
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- 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 Posters, retrieved October 4, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
American Hotel Association. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-596 (NAID 514076).
Text on the object
CONSERVE and you SERVE UNCLE SAM [seal:] AMERICAN HOTEL ASSOCIATION AHA STOP WASTE! $1,000,000 A DAY WASTED Approximately $1,000,000 a day is wasted in hotels—in food spoiled or partly eaten, in wasted water or ice, in heat going out windows, in lights left on, in breakage of china and glassware, abuse of linens, improper care or handling of equipment. We know you'll do your part in stopping this waste. We have asked guests to do theirs by helping you.
