Joe Dope takes good care that his hide don't ever get too badly fried
Ordnance ammunition-storage cartoon for airmen: a verse about shells left in the Pacific sun, three panels of shell cases baking on a beach and a damaged aircraft nose, and a bottom scene of a flinching Joe Dope beside a talking bomb with a chart. The technique is faint; fear of injury from careless storage and the 'Joe Dope' label (name-calling) carry the message.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1944
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Ordnance Department, U.S. Army
- 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-1143CC (NAID 514692).
Text on the object
Joe Dope takes good care that his hide Don't ever get too badly fried - But the shells that lay In the sun's torrid ray Blow the nose off the Air Forces' pride? [chart:] SUN HEAT FROM SUN STARTS OXIDATION OF POWDER PREMATURELY. WHEN ROUND IS FIRED EXPLOSION IS GREATER THAN EXPECTED. [imprint:] U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1944-O-569901
