Don't go to bed with a malaria mosquito
Troop health poster: a cartoon mosquito with long lashes, rouged cheeks and a red lipstick smile reclines on a bed under a net, above a yellow panel headed 'Don't go to bed with a malaria mosquito'. The panel tells the reader to sleep under a net, keep it repaired and tuck it in. The tell is the mosquito shown as a seductive bedfellow, a humorous fear-appeal about a real disease risk.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1944
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Army (War Department)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- 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. Army (War Department). National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-667 (NAID 514146).
Text on the object
DON'T GO TO BED WITH A MALARIA MOSQUITO ★ SLEEP UNDER A NET! ★ KEEP IT REPAIRED! ★ TUCK IT IN! ★ BE SURE NO MOSQUITO IS INSIDE WAITING FOR YOU FIGHT THE PERIL BEHIND THE LINES U.S [imprint:] ☆ U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1944—O-574718
