Forensic Research Archive of Manipulation and Exploitation
This Is France Overseas, One of the United Nations, 1939 France poster: A sheet headed 'this is FRANCE OVERSEAS' with two

This Is France Overseas, One of the United Nations

A sheet headed 'this is FRANCE OVERSEAS' with two world maps, photographs captioned 'native chiefs of Cameroons' and 'craftsmen in French West Africa', and bar charts grouping territories as 'enjoying similar status to the mother country', 'colonies and protectorates' and 'mandated territories'. The tell for card-stacking is the selection of populations, exports and a 'wide variety of forms of government all with an increasing measure of participation by elected representatives of the native peoples' as the whole picture of empire; euphemism appears in the status labels.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Card stackingEuphemism / doublespeak
Date
1939
Period
Second World War
Made by
French Press and Information Service, an Agency of the Provisional Government of the French Republic; artists F. C. Veit and S. M. Adler
Region
Western and Central Europe
Country
France
Medium
Poster
Issuer type
State
Regime
Provisional Government of the French Republic
Leader
Charles de Gaulle
Audience
Foreign public
Purpose
Persuade or win support
Themes
War and the military, Empire and colonialism, Media and information
Event
World War II
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 Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
Rights
Held by NARA, Unrestricted; hosted by owner decision (foreign-government imprint lithographed in the US)
French Press and Information Service; F. C. Veit and S. M. Adler, National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-899g.

Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

this is
FRANCE OVERSEAS

FRENCH WEST AFRICA  MADAGASCAR
CRAFTSMEN IN FRENCH WEST AFRICA
NATIVE CHIEFS OF CAMEROONS
INDO-CHINESE MARKET
PASTEUR INSTITUTE IN BRAZZAVILLE
THE TOWN OF FIANARANTSOA, MADAGASCAR
NATIVE WOMEN OF FRENCH EQUATORIAL AFRICA
PORT OF ALGIERS  CITY OF ALGIERS

OVERSEAS TERRITORIES ENJOYING SIMILAR STATUS TO THE MOTHER COUNTRY
COLONIES AND PROTECTORATES (A wide variety of forms of government all with an increasing measure of participation by elected representatives of the native peoples.)
MANDATED TERRITORIES (Administered by France under a mandate of the League of Nations.)
CONDOMINIUM (Administered jointly by France and Great Britain)
[territory population, area and chief export figures not reproduced]

France's overseas territories rank next to Great Britain's.
French North Africa is the largest producer of phosphate in the world.
Madagascar has a world monopoly of graphite.
New Caledonia is the second largest producer of nickel in the world.

f. c. veit and s. m. adler
Lithographed in the United States of America
ONE OF THE UNITED NATIONS
Issued by French Press and Information Service
An Agency of the Provisional Government of the French Republic

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