---
title: Only a Benny would say... I always relax when I travel
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/only-a-benny-would-say-relax-travel-1942/
description: 'Cartoon: a grinning, simian-featured soldier talks on a train seat to a woman who looks alarmed, while a stern military policeman stands behind them.'
section: Collection
---

1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/)
2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)
3. Only a Benny would say... I always relax when I travel

**Content note:** Soldier drawn with exaggerated simian facial features as a caricature. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![Only a Benny would say... I always relax when I travel, 1942 US poster: Cartoon](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/only-a-benny-would-say-relax-travel-1942.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/only-a-benny-would-say-relax-travel-1942.jpg)

# Only a Benny would say... I always relax when I travel

Cartoon: a grinning, simian-featured soldier talks on a train seat to a woman who looks alarmed, while a stern military policeman stands behind them; the speech bubble reads 'I always relax when I travel'. The tell for name-calling is 'Benny' as a label for careless talkers; the watching MP carries a mild fear-appeal of being caught.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

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

## Text on the object

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

```
ONLY A BENNY WOULD SAY. . .
I ALWAYS RELAX
WHEN I TRAVEL
DON'T BE A BENNY. . .THE PUBLIC JUDGES
THE ARMY BY THE WAY YOU ACT
[caption:] MP
[imprint:] This is No. 15 in a series of posters on the wrong-doings of "BENNY THE BUNGLER." Don't be like him!
[imprint:] Produced at Hq., Antiaircraft Artillery Command, E.D.C., Fort Totten, N.Y., by AMERICA'S ALERTMEN, official newspaper of the Command.
```

[← Now Is the Time! For Men of 18-19 to Choose](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/now-is-the-time-men-18-19-army-1942/) [Ouch! The Japs Don't Like Mosquitoes →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ouch-the-japs-dont-like-mosquitoes-1942/)

## 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)