Don't Smoke in Bed! (A Smoker-in-Bed Is a Nut on the Loose)
Housing-authority safety poster in rhyme: a man lies in bed with a lit cigarette, smoke curling up, against a brush-stroke red ground. The verse calls the smoker 'a nut on the loose' (name-calling) and says he will 'kill all his buddies' and 'cook his own goose' (fear-appeal).
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Federal Public Housing Authority
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Home front, Health
- 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)
Federal Public Housing Authority. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-685 (NAID 514164).
Text on the object
A Smoker-in-Bed Is a nut on the loose, He'll kill all his buddies And cook his own goose! DON'T SMOKE IN BED! [signature:] [illegible] FEDERAL PUBLIC HOUSING AUTHORITY [imprint:] U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1943-O-542356 SAFETY POSTER No. 2
