---
title: 'Don''t be a dope: Order equipment right!'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/joe-dope-order-equipment-right-1943/
description: 'Two-tier cartoon for soldiers about the Standard Nomenclature Lists: Joe Dope orders parts by the wrong names, and a wrecked jeep results.'
section: Collection
---

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3. Don't be a dope: Order equipment right!

[![Don't be a dope: Order equipment right!, 1943 US poster: Two-tier cartoon for soldiers about the Standard Nomenclature Lists](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/joe-dope-order-equipment-right-1943.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/joe-dope-order-equipment-right-1943.jpg)

# Don't be a dope: Order equipment right!

Two-tier cartoon for soldiers about the Standard Nomenclature Lists: Joe Dope orders parts by the wrong names, and a wrecked jeep results. 'Don't be a dope' is name-calling aimed at the careless soldier, with blame placed on the depots in his own words.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

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

## Text on the object

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

```
THE POET SAYS "WHAT'S IN A NAME?"
AND JOE DOPE THINKS EXACTLY THE SAME
PLEASE
DESIGNATE
PARTS
BY
proper
NAME
USE
SNL
1. GUN
BARREL
COUPLA
2. TIRES
3. SMOKE
TUBE
HURRY UP!!
Joe Dope
HE IGNORES S.N.L.*
AND THE THINGS HE GETS -- WELL,
THE DEPOTS, HE SAYS, ARE TO BLAME
*STANDARD NOMENCLATURE LISTS
25
Don't be a dope
ORDER EQUIPMENT RIGHT !
[signature: Warrant Off. Will Eisner]
[imprint:] U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1943-O-562294
```

[← The murder of a perfectly good differential (reel-1)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/joe-dope-murder-of-a-differential-1943/) [Joe Dope should get thrown in the can for his work as an Ordnance man →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/joe-dope-right-tool-gun-in-the-pan-1943/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Behistun (Bisotun) rock relief and trilingual inscription of Darius I: the king, two attendants and the bound rebel leaders beneath the winged figure of Ahuramazda](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/behistun-relief-darius-and-rebels-521bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Name-calling, Testimonial). Content note: Shows bound captives before the king, and the inscription records the mutilation and public execution of rebel leaders, as the king's own account.
- [Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521/) (Electoral Saxony · 1521 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [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.
- [Ondersoeckt de Geesten, ofse van den Duyvel syn, of niet (the De Witt brothers as devils)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ondersoeckt-de-geesten-de-witt-devils-1672/) (Dutch Republic · 1672 · Scapegoating, Name-calling)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (Great Britain · 1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [The North Briton, No. XLV, 23 April 1763 (John Wilkes), opening page](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/north-briton-no-45-wilkes-1763/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Apr 23, 1763 · Name-calling)
- [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Province of Massachusetts Bay · Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking). Content note: Hand-coloured engraving of bloodied dead and wounded colonists after soldiers fired on a crowd.
- [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (France · 1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)
