Lives depend upon fragile thermometers: stop breakage!
Army conservation poster: a pale hand with red and blue blood vessels drawn on it, with a clinical thermometer laid diagonally across it, over the lines 'Lives depend upon fragile thermometers' and 'Stop breakage!'. The vessels tie a small piece of equipment to a patient's life (a mild fear-appeal that breakage costs lives); the claim is stated, not evidenced.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1944
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Army (Army Conservation Program)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Own forces
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Health, 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)
U.S. Army. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1296 (NAID 514902).
Text on the object
LIVES DEPEND UPON FRAGILE THERMOMETERS STOP BREAKAGE! U.S. ARMY SAVE CONSERVATION PROGRAM ARMY CONSERVATION PROJECT NO. 86-M-5 [imprint:] U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1944 - O - 585499 [handwritten:] conservation equipment
