---
title: Don't be a dope! Handle equipment right
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dont-be-a-dope-stukas-clean-gun-1943/
description: 'Ordnance Department cartoon poster for servicemen: a gunner on a truck fires a heavy machine gun at diving aircraft.'
section: Collection
---

1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/)
2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)
3. Don't be a dope! Handle equipment right

**Content note:** Verse uses the period term 'Hun' for German airmen. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![Don't be a dope! Handle equipment right, 1943 US poster: Ordnance Department cartoon poster for servicemen](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/dont-be-a-dope-stukas-clean-gun-1943.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/dont-be-a-dope-stukas-clean-gun-1943.jpg)

# Don't be a dope! Handle equipment right

Ordnance Department cartoon poster for servicemen: a gunner on a truck fires a heavy machine gun at diving aircraft, with a verse on a canvas panel telling him to clean the gun every three days. The slogan 'Don't be a dope!' is name-calling aimed at the careless soldier, set against the fear of a jammed gun under air attack.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

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

## Text on the object

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

```
When the Stukas begin to attack
Ain't the time to make up for a lack
Of cleaning your gun -
Which won't shoot at a Hun
With a month's gummy dust on its back!
CLEAN IT EVERY 3 DAYS
Don't be a dope!
HANDLE EQUIPMENT RIGHT
[signature: WARRANT OFF. Will Eisner ORDNANCE]
[imprint:] U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1943-O-553727
23
```

[← Dollars in war bonds are double-duty dollars](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dollars-in-war-bonds-double-duty-dollars-1943/) [Don't blind our pilots with smoke - prevent forest fires →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dont-blind-our-pilots-with-smoke-1943/)

## 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)