Content note: Shows a lion biting the head of a man in overalls, drawn in a violent cartoon style. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Only a dope would do this
Industrial safety poster: a huge snarling lion with open jaws closes on the head of a man in overalls, under the headline calling the man a 'dope'. The label is name-calling aimed at careless workers, and the lion pictures the danger of a machine as a bodily threat (fear-appeal). The slogan runs on below: '...You can't take chances with machines either'.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Bressler Editorial Cartoons Co. (copyright holder named in the imprint)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Mixed
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Home front, Labor
- 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)
Bressler Editorial Cartoons Co. (copyright holder named in the imprint). National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1462 (NAID 515126).
Text on the object
ONLY A DOPE WOULD DO THIS... ...YOU CAN'T TAKE CHANCES WITH MACHINES EITHER ALWAYS BE CAREFUL! [signature:] Fisher [uncertain] [imprint:] LITHO IN U.S.A. [imprint:] Copyright, Bressler Editorial Cartoons, Co., New York
