Fire is a 5th-columnist
Plant fire-prevention poster: a mass of orange flame with a dark shape and a faint grinning face fills the sheet beneath the red word 'FIRE', labelled 'is a 5th-columnist', with the lines 'Don't let it endanger this plant' and 'Keep fire out by being careful'. The technique is name-calling: the label for wartime saboteurs is applied to fire, backed by a fear-appeal about the workplace.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Unnamed issuer (plant fire-prevention poster)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Mixed
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Home front, Security and surveillance, Labor
- 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)
Unnamed issuer (plant fire-prevention poster). National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-772 (NAID 514260).
Text on the object
FIRE IS A 5TH-COLUMNIST .. DON'T LET IT ENDANGER THIS PLANT .. KEEP FIRE OUT BY BEING CAREFUL
