---
title: Saboteur (Combat the rat)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/saboteur-rat-public-health-1943/
description: 'Public health sheet: a large rat drawn from close in towers over the word ''Saboteur'', above six panels reading ''Rats spread plague'', ''Spread typhus''.'
section: Collection
---

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3. Saboteur (Combat the rat)

[![Saboteur, 1943 US poster: Public health sheet](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/saboteur-rat-public-health-1943.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/saboteur-rat-public-health-1943.jpg)

# Saboteur (Combat the rat)

Public health sheet: a large rat drawn from close in towers over the word 'Saboteur', above six panels reading 'Rats spread plague', 'Spread typhus', 'Destroy food', 'Destroy property', 'Start fires' and 'Combat the rat'. The technique is name-calling, a wartime label applied to an animal, with a fear-appeal about disease and fire.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[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

```
SABOTEUR
Rats Spread Plague . . .
Spread Typhus . . .
Destroy Food . . .
Destroy Property . . .
Start Fires . . .
COMBAT THE RAT
ASK YOUR
LOCAL HEALTH DEPARTMENT
FOR DETAILS
Federal Security Agency
U. S. PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE
CHP 2
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C.
GPO O - 43 - 529049
```

[← Road-hog: never be called one!](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/road-hog-never-be-called-one-aaa-1943/) [Safe water on the farm →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/safe-water-on-the-farm-1943/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [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.
- [Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521/) (Electoral Saxony · 1521 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [Anacoana fut pendue sans raison (engraving in Le miroir de la cruelle et horrible tyrannie espagnole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anacoana-hanged-miroir-tyrannie-espagnole-1620/) (Dutch Republic · 1620 · Fear appeal, Name-calling). Content note: Engraving of a hanged, bare-breasted Taino woman, burning huts and people being killed by Spanish soldiers.
- [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)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (Great Britain · 1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [The North Briton, No. XLV, 23 April 1763 (John Wilkes), opening page](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/north-briton-no-45-wilkes-1763/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Apr 23, 1763 · Name-calling)
- [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.
- [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (France · 1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)