It's plain horse sense: act, think, SAFETY
Industrial safety poster: a stylised grinning horse head with concentric red rings behind it, headlined 'it's plain horse sense' with 'act - think' and a large 'SAFETY' below. The folksy 'horse sense' idiom presents workplace caution as common sense; the technique is faint and the sheet makes no specific claim.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1942
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Department of Labor, Division of Labor Standards, National Committee for Conservation of Man-Power in War Industries (artist Ekman)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Labor, 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)
U.S. Department of Labor, Division of Labor Standards, National Committee for Conservation of Man-Power in War Industries. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1130 (NAID 514657).
Text on the object
[signature: EKMAN] it's plain horse sense act · think SAFETY NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR CONSERVATION OF MAN-POWER IN WAR INDUSTRIES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DIVISION OF LABOR STANDARDS [imprint: U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1942—O—466159]
