Look Out! Sabotage - Scotch This by Being Always Alert
A red snake forms the initial 'S' of 'Sabotage' under the heading 'Look out!', with the instruction 'Scotch this by being always alert. Report suspicious persons & things at once'. The tell is the fear appeal: sabotage is staged as a lurking threat in the form of a snake, with a single prescribed remedy of vigilance and reporting.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- London Port Emergency Committee (printed at the Doulton Press, 73 Minories, E.C.3)
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Security and surveillance, Home front
- Event
- World War II
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- 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 Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Held by NARA, Unrestricted; hosted by owner decision
London Port Emergency Committee; printed at the Doulton Press. National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-278.
Text on the object
LOOK OUT! SABOTAGE SCOTCH THIS by being ALWAYS ALERT Report suspicious persons & things AT ONCE [imprint:] ISSUED BY LONDON PORT EMERGENCY COMMITTEE, AND PRINTED AT THE DOULTON PRESS, 73, MINORIES, E.C.3.
