He Can't Lay Off
Black-and-white photograph under an orange-red sky: a soldier in helmet and gas mask crouches with a pistol in front of a large shell burst, with a second masked soldier behind him. The headline 'He Can't Lay Off' sets the soldier's unbroken exposure to danger against the home worker's attendance. The technique is a mild fear-appeal that works mainly as pressure not to stop work.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Photo Parade Publications (as printed in the imprint)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Mixed
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Labor, War and the military, 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)
Photo Parade Publications. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-938 (NAID 514444).
Text on the object
He Can't Lay Off [imprint: PHOTO PARADE PUBLICATIONS]
