...Sabotage can outweigh production
Security poster: a scowling man in a fedora, a cigarette burning in his mouth, rests a hand on a balance scale where a bomber, tank and jeep on one pan are outweighed by a box of emery dust and a bomb on the other. Text below asks the reader to report anything questionable to the intelligence officer. The technique is fear-appeal, with the saboteur drawn as one furtive figure.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- OCASC Intelligence Section
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Security and surveillance, Labor, 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 and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Posters, retrieved October 4, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
OCASC Intelligence Section. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1654 (NAID 515321).
Text on the object
...SABOTAGE CAN OUTWEIGH PRODUCTION EMERY DUST PRODUCTION OF OCASC -INTELLIGENCE SECTION- IF YOU QUESTION IT-REPORT IT! COME [pictogram of running man] CALL 242 [pictogram of man telephoning] or WRITE [pictogram of man writing] -INTELLIGENCE OFFICER.
