Don't let the absentee bugs get you
Folded WPB leaflet, cover and first inside page: a worker covers his head as small cartoon bugs swarm above him, and the inside panel shows one large bug in a jacket with a cigarette and a tag reading 'Voluntary Absenteeism'. The leaflet labels absentees as insects (name-calling by metaphor) and warns of being 'got'.
Propaganda techniques used in this leaflet
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- War Production Board, War Production Drive Headquarters (Labor-Management Committee)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Leaflet
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Labor, 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)
War Production Board. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-483A (NAID 513963).
Text on the object
DON'T LET THE Absentee Bugs GET YOU ...AND ESPECIALLY DON'T LET THIS BUG GET YOU! VOLUNTARY ABSENTEEISM Your WAR PRODUCTION DRIVE LABOR-MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE WPB Leaflet No. L-24. For extra copies, address: WAR PRODUCTION DRIVE HEADQUARTERS, War Production Board, Washington, D. C. [imprint:] U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1943-O-525297 [handwritten:] 44-PA-483A
