"It's the least you can do!!"
A woman with a basket and ration book walks past a doorway marked 'Black Market' where a leering man beckons, while a caricature of Hitler peers over the wall above; a caption gives 'The Home Front Pledge'. The tell is the pairing of a rationing violation with the enemy leader's face, so that buying off-ration is presented as helping him.
Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Office of War Information (cartoon artwork; artist Charles Alston)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Cartoon
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Economy and finance, Home front, 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, RG 208, OWI Cartoon Artworks and Mockups (NAID 535594), retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
Office of War Information. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 208, 208-COM-96 (NAID 535637).
Text on the object
BLACK MARKET * I PAY NO MORE THAN TOP LEGAL PRICES. * I ACCEPT NO RATIONED GOODS WITHOUT GIVING UP RATION STAMPS. .....THE HOME FRONT PLEDGE RATION BOOK "IT'S THE LEAST YOU CAN DO!!" Alston OWI
