Content note: Cartoon of a soldier hanging by a noose from a gallows while armed mosquitoes with bayonets approach. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Don't be a dummy... avoid malaria!
Cartoon malaria-prevention poster: a thin soldier in shorts hangs by a noose from a gallows beam while armed mosquitoes with bayonets close in; a sign reads Bayonet Drill Tonight. The headline calls the reader a dummy, a play on a bayonet-drill dummy, and tells him to keep covered and use repellent. Fear-appeal plus name-calling.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1944
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Government (issuer not named; Government Printing Office imprint)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Own forces
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Health, War and the military
- 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)
U.S. Government. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-650 (NAID 514128).
Text on the object
MALARIA MOSQUITOS! BAYONET DRILL Tonight! GET IN THERE YOU GUYS! DON'T BE A DUMMY... avoid malaria!.. KEEP COVERED! USE REPELLENT! FIGHT THE PERIL BEHIND THE LINES [imprint:] U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1944-O-574718
