---
title: Don't bite off more than you can chew! Take only what you can eat!
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dont-bite-off-more-than-you-can-chew-navy-1944/
description: 'Navy mess-hall poster: a cartoon sailor with a hugely swollen red cheek, sweat drops flying, a bone sticking from his mouth.'
section: Collection
---

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3. Don't bite off more than you can chew! Take only what you can eat!

[![Don't bite off more than you can chew! Take only what you can eat!, 1944 US poster: Navy mess-hall poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/dont-bite-off-more-than-you-can-chew-navy-1944.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/dont-bite-off-more-than-you-can-chew-navy-1944.jpg)

# Don't bite off more than you can chew! Take only what you can eat!

Navy mess-hall poster: a cartoon sailor with a hugely swollen red cheek, sweat drops flying, a bone sticking from his mouth, under 'Don't bite off more than you can chew!' and 'take ONLY what you can eat!'. The technique is humour through an everyday figure, with no appeal beyond the joke; the point is food waste.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Plain folks](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/plain-folks/)

## Text on the object

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

```
DON'T BITE
OFF MORE
THAN
YOU CAN
CHEW!
take ONLY what you can eat!
BUREAU OF SUPPLIES AND ACCOUNTS : NAVY
[imprint:] U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1944-O-[illegible]
```

[← Don't be your own doctor! If you're sick - report sick](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dont-be-your-own-doctor-1944/) [Don't feed rats →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dont-feed-rats-1944/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Trois Tetes sous l'meme bonnet (three heads under the same cap)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/trois-tetes-sous-le-meme-bonnet-1789/) (France · 1789 · Plain folks, Glittering generalities)
- ['This log cabin was the first building erected on the North Bend', Whig print by T. Sinclair, 1840](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/harrison-north-bend-log-cabin-sinclair-1840/) (United States · 1840 · Plain folks, Transfer)
- [Treeing Coons (pro-Polk cartoon), 1844](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/treeing-coons-polk-1844/) (United States · 1844 · Name-calling, Plain folks)
- [Zachary Taylor, People's Candidate for President (Currier banner), 1848](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/taylor-fillmore-peoples-candidate-1848/) (United States · 1848 · Plain folks, Glittering generalities)
- ['Little Mac.' (from the Democratic presidential campaign songster)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/little-mac-song-sheet-feeks-1864/) (United States · 1864 · Bandwagon, Plain folks)
- [The peoples' choice, H. Greeley G. Brown](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/peoples-choice-greeley-brown-1872/) (United States · 1872 · Bandwagon, Plain folks)
- [The working-man's banner. For President, Ulysses S. Grant, 'The Galena Tanner.' For Vice-President, Henry Wilson, 'The Natick Shoemaker.'](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/working-mans-banner-grant-1872/) (United States · 1872 · Plain folks, Transfer)
- [The Chappaqua farmer](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/chappaqua-farmer-1872/) (United States · Jul 1872 · Plain folks, Glittering generalities)