---
title: Don't be a dope! Order from S.N.L.'s
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dont-be-a-dope-order-from-snls-1945/
description: 'Army supply-ordering cartoon for soldiers: a turbaned, bearded fortune-teller caricature with a Hotel towel on his head waves his hands over the eyes'
section: Collection
---

1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/)
2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)
3. Don't be a dope! Order from S.N.L.'s

**Content note:** Contains a stereotyped caricature of a turbaned Black man as a fortune-teller. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![Don't be a dope! Order from S.N.L.'s, 1945 US poster: Army supply-ordering cartoon for soldiers](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/dont-be-a-dope-order-from-snls-1945.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/dont-be-a-dope-order-from-snls-1945.jpg)

# Don't be a dope! Order from S.N.L.'s

Army supply-ordering cartoon for soldiers: a turbaned, bearded fortune-teller caricature with a Hotel towel on his head waves his hands over the eyes of the buck-toothed 'Joe Dope' figure, beside a four-line verse on ordering parts by the proper form. 'Don't be a dope!' is name-calling aimed at the careless orderer, softened by humour.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)

## Text on the object

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

```
Oh, one cannot really decree
That depots mind-readers should be
If your order for parts
Must be read by black arts
Let's make the above S.O.P.
Don't be a dope!
ORDER FROM S.N.L'S
[towel lettering, partly hidden:] HOT EL CAI[illegible]
[lettering on ground:] JOE DOPE REKAZISHIN
[imprint:] U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1945-O-631775
```

[← Dig down deep! Buy twice as many Bonds in the mighty 7th War Loan](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dig-down-deep-7th-war-loan-1945/) [Don't strip "trade-ins" →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dont-strip-trade-ins-1945/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Behistun (Bisotun) rock relief and trilingual inscription of Darius I: the king, two attendants and the bound rebel leaders beneath the winged figure of Ahuramazda](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/behistun-relief-darius-and-rebels-521bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Name-calling, Testimonial). Content note: Shows bound captives before the king, and the inscription records the mutilation and public execution of rebel leaders, as the king's own account.
- [Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521/) (Electoral Saxony · 1521 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [Anacoana fut pendue sans raison (engraving in Le miroir de la cruelle et horrible tyrannie espagnole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anacoana-hanged-miroir-tyrannie-espagnole-1620/) (Dutch Republic · 1620 · Fear appeal, Name-calling). Content note: Engraving of a hanged, bare-breasted Taino woman, burning huts and people being killed by Spanish soldiers.
- [Ondersoeckt de Geesten, ofse van den Duyvel syn, of niet (the De Witt brothers as devils)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ondersoeckt-de-geesten-de-witt-devils-1672/) (Dutch Republic · 1672 · Scapegoating, Name-calling)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (Great Britain · 1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [The North Briton, No. XLV, 23 April 1763 (John Wilkes), opening page](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/north-briton-no-45-wilkes-1763/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Apr 23, 1763 · Name-calling)
- [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Province of Massachusetts Bay · Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking). Content note: Hand-coloured engraving of bloodied dead and wounded colonists after soldiers fired on a crowd.
- [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (France · 1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)