Content note: Background German soldiers are drawn as exaggerated caricatures; a machine gun has burst open beside a distressed soldier. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Don't be a dope! Handle equipment right!
Equipment-care cartoon for soldiers with a four-line rhyme about setting headspace by guess: a cartoon soldier, Joe Dope, sits beside a wrecked machine gun while a sergeant holds his head. 'Don't be a dope!' is name-calling aimed at the careless soldier, softened by humour.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Ordnance Department, U.S. Army; artist Will Eisner
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Own forces
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Theme
- War and the military
- 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)
Ordnance Department, U.S. Army. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1143Y (NAID 514728).
Text on the object
HEADSPACE to Joe Dope was a riddle, An adjustment with which he could fiddle. He set it by guess-- Gun & Joe are a mess, For the cartridge blew up in the middle. Don't be a dope! HANDLE EQUIPMENT RIGHT ! [signature: W/O Will Eisner] [imprint:] P.M.U. HOLABIRD ORDNANCE DEPOT 20 ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT U.S. ARMY
