Penicillin for Gonorrhea works 95 times out of 100
Navy venereal-disease poster: a crowd of outline sailors, with a few drawn in solid black and shadowed, under the headline that penicillin works 95 times out of 100. The caption line tells the reader he may be one of the failures. The fear-appeal rests on the few dark figures among the many.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1946
- Period
- Cold War
- Made by
- U.S. Navy, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (artist: Charmatz)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Truman Administration
- Leader
- Harry S. Truman
- Audience
- Own forces
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Health, War and the military
- Event
- World War II
- 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)
U.S. Navy. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1506 (NAID 515171).
Text on the object
PENICILLIN FOR GONORRHEA works 95 times out of 100 but ... YOU may be one of the failures! [signature: CHARMATZ] [imprint: NavMed 989, VP-27, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, U. S. Navy] [imprint: U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1946-O-683865] [imprint: Prepared in cooperation with the U. S. Naval Medical School National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Md.]
