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
- Date
- 1944
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Navy, Bureau of Supplies and Accounts
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Own forces
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- War and the military, Home front
- 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. Navy. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-656 (NAID 514134).
Text on the object
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]
