---
title: Pal! Food is ammunition. Don't waste it
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/pal-food-is-ammunition-1943/
description: 'Cartoon: a pig in a German officer''s cap and an Iron Cross, with a toothbrush moustache, grins at a startled soldier who holds up a hand over a plate'
section: Collection
---

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3. Pal! Food is ammunition. Don't waste it

**Content note:** Cartoon of a pig wearing a German officer's cap and Iron Cross, with a toothbrush moustache, caricaturing the enemy leader. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![Pal! Food is ammunition. Don't waste it, 1943 US poster: Cartoon](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/pal-food-is-ammunition-1943.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/pal-food-is-ammunition-1943.jpg)

# Pal! Food is ammunition. Don't waste it

Cartoon: a pig in a German officer's cap and an Iron Cross, with a toothbrush moustache, grins at a startled soldier who holds up a hand over a plate of wasted food, a tipped glass and a bitten apple, under 'Pal!'. The tell is the pig-as-enemy figure and a shell-case roundel reading 'Food is ammunition', which equates leftover food with a military supply.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/) [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)

## Text on the object

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

```
PAL !

FOOD IS AMMUNITION ★ DON'T WASTE IT ★

[imprint, bottom: ☆ U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1943—O—534432]
```

[← Silence means security: A wise Old Owl sat in an oak](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/owl-silence-means-security-1943/) [... pass the ammunition: The Army needs more lumber →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/pass-the-ammunition-army-needs-more-lumber-1943/)

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- [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.
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- [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.
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