Save Food for World Relief
A pencil-style drawing shows a bowed woman in a headscarf and a child among ruined walls and a broken cart, above the headline 'Save Food for World Relief'. Three lines list small kitchen wastes, then state that 'the total waste is staggering' and ask the reader to 'Eat Less, Waste Nothing'. The tell: a scene of war-ruined civilians is set against ordinary household leftovers, linking a small domestic act to distant suffering.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1918
- Period
- First World War
- Made by
- U.S. Food Administration, Illinois Educational Division, Chicago
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Wilson Administration
- Leader
- Woodrow Wilson
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Home front, Health
- Event
- World War I
- Regime
- Wilson administration
- Leader
- Woodrow Wilson
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives (NARA), RG 4 (U.S. Food Administration), World War I Posters (NAID 512439), retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- NARA Unrestricted; hosted by owner decision
U.S. Food Administration, Illinois Educational Division, Chicago. National Archives and Records Administration, 4-P-90.
Text on the object
SAVE FOOD FOR WORLD RELIEF That crust of bread you wasted- That bit of meat you nibbled and left- That plate of left-overs that are spoiling- Each is small in itself-but the total waste is staggering. You can help. Eat Less - Waste Nothing UNITED STATES FOOD ADMINISTRATION Illinois Educational Division CHICAGO
