Can't you read! (Danger, do not feed the bears)
Four-panel cartoon on one sheet: a tourist in a pith helmet feeds a sandwich to a bear beside a sign reading 'Danger, do not feed the bears', and the bear then knocks him down and snarls over him. The caption 'Can't you read!' is printed below. The technique is a fear-appeal by comic consequence; the sheet's war-related message is not stated in the visible text.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Office of War Information (cartoon by Leon Schlesinger)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Home front, 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)
Office of War Information (cartoon by Leon Schlesinger). National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-469 (NAID 513939).
Text on the object
DANGER DO NOT FEED THE BEARS (repeated on the sign in each of four panels) "CAN'T YOU READ!" [signature:] © Leon Schlesinger [imprint:] U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE · 1943 · [remainder illegible]
