---
title: 'Our carelessness, their secret weapon: prevent forest fires'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/our-carelessness-their-secret-weapon-forest-service-1943/
description: Poster with two large caricatured heads, one in a swastika cap and one in a cap with the rising-sun flag emblem, leering over a burning forest.
section: Collection
---

1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/)
2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)
3. Our carelessness, their secret weapon: prevent forest fires

**Content note:** Shows two caricatured enemy faces (swastika cap and rising-sun cap) with exaggerated, distorted features over a burning forest. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![Our carelessness, their secret weapon: prevent forest fires, 1943 US poster: Poster with two large caricatured heads, one](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/our-carelessness-their-secret-weapon-forest-service-1943.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/our-carelessness-their-secret-weapon-forest-service-1943.jpg)

# Our carelessness, their secret weapon: prevent forest fires

Poster with two large caricatured heads, one in a swastika cap and one in a cap with the rising-sun flag emblem, leering over a burning forest. Text: 'Our carelessness, their secret weapon' and 'Prevent forest fires'. The enemy faces are drawn with exaggerated, distorted features, a name-calling image; the fire and the claim that carelessness serves the enemy add fear-appeal.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Scapegoating](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/scapegoating/) [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

```
OUR CARELESSNESS
Their Secret Weapon
PREVENT FOREST FIRES
U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE
FOREST SERVICE
STATE
FOREST SERVICE
[imprint: U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1943--O-505840]
```

[← Order No. 1: Mine Coal.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/order-no-1-mine-coal-1943/) [Out! Don't listen to his song and dance. Give the goof a kick in the pants! →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/out-tom-trouble-1943/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Der Warner (broadsheet lampoon on the Jesuits after Breitenfeld and Rain)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/der-warner-anti-jesuit-broadsheet-1632/) (Holy Roman Empire · 1632 · Scapegoating, Fear appeal)
- [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)
- [Proclamation de Sonthonax en créole, Cap-Français (Proclamation of Commissioner Sonthonax in Creole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sonthonax-proclamation-creole-1793/) (France · Aug 29, 1793 · Fear appeal, Scapegoating). Content note: Colonial-era proclamation on slavery and emancipation in Saint-Domingue; speaks of slaves, whips and 'Nègues' in period terms.
- ["Old Jack, the famous New Orleans mouser" (pro-Jackson print, 1832)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/old-jack-mouser-bank-clay-rats-1832/) (United States · 1832 · Name-calling, Scapegoating)
- [Proclamation by the Queen in Council, to the Princes, Chiefs, and People of India (printed sheet, Allahabad, 1 November 1858)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/queens-proclamation-to-the-people-of-india-1858/) (British India · Nov 1, 1858 · Glittering generalities, Scapegoating)
- [Union and liberty! And union and slavery!](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/union-and-liberty-1864/) (United States · 1864 · Scapegoating, Fear appeal)
- [The Great November Contest. Patriotism versus Bummerism](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/great-november-contest-bummerism-1868/) (United States · 1868 · Fear appeal, Scapegoating, Name-calling). Content note: 1868 print with a racial slur, racist caricature and dialect; the Library of Congress describes it as strongly racist.
- [You must make your choice. Birds of a feather flock together](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/miller-birds-of-a-feather-1872/) (United States · 1872 · Transfer, Scapegoating)