Eat all you want...but be sure you want it!
Food-waste poster. A cartoon farm daughter in a gingham dress stands with hands on hips beside a milk pail, with a rhyme addressed to the reader above a sailor who is scraping a tray of uneaten food into a bin. The tell is a pin-up style figure and a nursery-rhyme parody used to carry a rationing-era plea not to waste food.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1944
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. government (issuer not printed; signed Dyer, USNR; U.S. Government Printing Office imprint)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Mixed
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Mixed
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Home front, Economy and finance
- 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. Government. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-711 (NAID 514198).
Text on the object
Old MacDonald had a farm He had a daughter, too... If you'd rate four-point-O With both DON'T WASTE THE FOOD THEY GREW EAT ALL YOU WANT... BUT BE SURE YOU WANT IT! [signature:] DYER USNR [imprint:] U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1944 - O - 620867
