Forensic Research Archive of Manipulation and Exploitation
He can SEE at night but we need good LIGHT, 1941 US poster: Eye-health poster

He can SEE at night but we need good LIGHT

Eye-health poster: a large horned owl stares from a tree branch against a night sky, with a boy doing homework under a lamp in a lit window of a house below. The text says the owl can see at night 'but we need good LIGHT'. The technique is faint here: the owl's night vision is used as a contrast to make a plain household-lighting point.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Transfer
Date
1941
Period
Second World War
Made by
District of Columbia Society for the Prevention of Blindness
Region
North America
Country
United States
Medium
Poster
Issuer type
NGO
Regime
Roosevelt Administration
Leader
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Audience
Domestic public
Purpose
Warn or inform
Themes
Health, 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)
District of Columbia Society for the Prevention of Blindness. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-937 (NAID 514443).

Text on the object

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

He can SEE at
night
But we need
good LIGHT
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF BLINDNESS

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