Horseplay that causes accidents is sabotage!
Navy Department safety poster: a caricature drawing of a horse-headed man with a wide toothy grin and tears of laughter, under the lettering 'HORSEPLAY'. The caption labels such play 'sabotage', applying a wartime term for deliberate enemy damage to workplace accidents, a name-calling label meant to make careless fooling feel like an act against the war effort.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Navy Department, Chuck Thorndike
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Home front, 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)
U.S. Navy Department, Chuck Thorndike. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1002 (NAID 514528).
Text on the object
HORSEPLAY THAT CAUSES ACCIDENTS IS SABOTAGE! [signature: CHUCK Thorndike] NAVY DEPARTMENT SAFETY POSTER N 683
