---
title: A maxim Joe Dope just pooh poohs is that one should be kind to a fuze
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/joe-dope-kind-to-a-fuze-1941/
description: 'Ordnance Department cartoon poster for servicemen: a soldier swings a sledgehammer at a bomb fuze while a sergeant looks on.'
section: Collection
---

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3. A maxim Joe Dope just pooh poohs is that one should be kind to a fuze

**Content note:** Cartoon of a soldier killed by an explosion, shown as boots, a helmet, dog tags and fingers left in the dirt. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![A maxim Joe Dope just pooh poohs is that one should be kind to a fuze, 1941 US poster: Ordnance Department cartoon poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/joe-dope-kind-to-a-fuze-1941.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/joe-dope-kind-to-a-fuze-1941.jpg)

# A maxim Joe Dope just pooh poohs is that one should be kind to a fuze

Ordnance Department cartoon poster for servicemen: a soldier swings a sledgehammer at a bomb fuze while a sergeant looks on, and below lie a pair of boots, a helmet and dog tags where he stood. A circled panel states fuzes are hand-screwed and need no tools. The verse names 'Joe Dope' as the fool; the deterrent is a fear-appeal built on a fatal result.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/) [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)

## Text on the object

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

```
A maxim Joe Dope just pooh poohs
Is that one should be kind to a fuze;
When the thing seemed to stick,
He hit it a lick -
And all they could find was his shoes!
A FUZE IS A VERY
DELICATE MECHANISM
IT IS DESIGNED TO BE
HAND SCREWED AND
DOES NOT REQUIRE
TOOLS
[signature: Will Eisner ORDNANCE]
```

[← Don't be a dope! Handle equipment right!](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/joe-dope-headspace-1941/) [Joe Dope cleaned his rifle, oh yes →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/joe-dope-rifle-cleaning-1941/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Miniature of Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont, Les Passages d'outremer (BnF Fr. 5594, fol. 19r)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passages-doutremer-council-of-clermont-colombe-1474/) (France · 1474 · Testimonial, Fear appeal). Content note: Medieval religious imagery and a French text describing alleged killings and captivity of eastern Christians, as used to argue for the First Crusade; the text is shown as written.
- [Anacoana fut pendue sans raison (engraving in Le miroir de la cruelle et horrible tyrannie espagnole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anacoana-hanged-miroir-tyrannie-espagnole-1620/) (Dutch Republic · 1620 · Fear appeal, Name-calling). Content note: Engraving of a hanged, bare-breasted Taino woman, burning huts and people being killed by Spanish soldiers.
- [Der Warner (broadsheet lampoon on the Jesuits after Breitenfeld and Rain)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/der-warner-anti-jesuit-broadsheet-1632/) (Holy Roman Empire · 1632 · Scapegoating, Fear appeal)
- [Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sans-culottes-bread-of-liberty-gillray-1793/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Jan 12, 1793 · Fear appeal, Name-calling)
- [Proclamation de Sonthonax en créole, Cap-Français (Proclamation of Commissioner Sonthonax in Creole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sonthonax-proclamation-creole-1793/) (France · Aug 29, 1793 · Fear appeal, Scapegoating). Content note: Colonial-era proclamation on slavery and emancipation in Saint-Domingue; speaks of slaves, whips and 'Nègues' in period terms.
- [Gazette of the United States, "The Jeffersoniad" no. VIII, 14 August 1800](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gazette-us-jeffersoniad-1800/) (United States · Aug 14, 1800 · Name-calling, Fear appeal)
- [Tyrants Prostrate, Liberty Triumphant (pro-Polk cartoon on Dorr), 1844](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/tyrants-prostrate-liberty-triumphant-polk-1844/) (United States · 1844 · Name-calling, Fear appeal). Content note: Speech balloons contain anti-Catholic and nativist wording ('the ruins of Popery') in the mouths of the Whig figures, written by a Democratic cartoonist and shown unaltered.
- [Brolej Žemajčiaj! (Brothers Samogitians!): hand-painted broken-cross poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/brolej-zemajciaj-broken-cross-1862/) (Russian Empire · 1862 · Fear appeal, Transfer)