---
title: Start the day right with a real breakfast
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/start-the-day-right-with-a-real-breakfast-va-1946/
description: 'Two columns of four cartoon panels headed ''The Wrong Way.'' and ''The Right Way.'' follow a man through a day: hurried coffee, a drowsy office.'
section: Collection
---

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2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)
3. Start the day right with a real breakfast

[![Start the day right with a real breakfast, 1946 US poster: Two columns of four cartoon panels headed 'The Wrong Way.'](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/start-the-day-right-with-a-real-breakfast-va-1946.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/start-the-day-right-with-a-real-breakfast-va-1946.jpg)

# Start the day right with a real breakfast

Two columns of four cartoon panels headed 'The Wrong Way.' and 'The Right Way.' follow a man through a day: hurried coffee, a drowsy office, a quick lunch and a stumble, against a full breakfast, brisk work, a proper lunch and praise. Side labels pair 'No food, no pep, no time, no luck' with 'Good breakfast, good pep, good lunch, good job'. The technique is card-stacking by paired contrast, in which one habit is shown as the single cause of every outcome. Slogan: 'Start the day right... with a REAL BREAKFAST'.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
The Wrong Way.
The Right Way.
NO
FOOD
NO
PEP
NO
TIME
NO
LUCK
GOOD
BREAKFAST
GOOD
PEP
GOOD
LUNCH
GOOD
JOB
Wrong way panel 1: I'LL DRINK MY COFFEE ON THE WAY. / CAREFUL, DEAR!
Wrong way panel 3: I'M IN A HURRY. SLIP ME SOME JAVA AND A SINKER, QUICK!
Wrong way panel 4: WHO'S THE ZOMBIE? / OH, THAT'S JOE. HE'S ALL RIGHT, BUT HE ACTS LIKE HE HAD BORDERLINE ANEMIA.
Right way panel 1: FRESH FRUIT, CEREAL AND MILK, EGGS, BUTTERED TOAST AND COFFEE! THAT'S A REAL BREAKFAST!
Right way panel 3: BOY! NOW FOR A WELL-BALANCED LUNCH!
Right way panel 4: NICE GOING, GEORGE! YOU'RE DOING A SWELL JOB!
[panel numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4 in each column]
[signature: Nate Collier]
Start the day right...
with a REAL BREAKFAST
[imprint: U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1946—O—693786]
[imprint: V. A. POSTER 5-3   VETERANS ADMINISTRATION, WASHINGTON, D.C.   CARTOON REPRODUCED THROUGH THE COURTESY   THE TEXAS COMPANY NEW YORK, N.Y.]
```

[← Σοσιαλδημοκρατία: Μερικοί που ζητούν την ψήφο σου σ' εκυβέρνησαν (Social democracy: some who ask for your vote have ruled you)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sosialdimokratia-election-poster-1946/) [Structure of the Economic and Social Council →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/structure-of-the-economic-and-social-council-1946/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [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.
- [Tomb of Darius I at Naqsh-e Rustam: the king in relief beside his inscription DNa, c. 490 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dna-inscription-darius-i-naqsh-e-rustam-490bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Testimonial, Card stacking)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [Persepolis, Apadana staircase relief: a figure with an animal from a procession of delegations, early fifth century BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/persepolis-apadana-delegate-relief-500bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Manufactured consensus)
- [Alabaster relief, Assyrian troops storming a citadel, from Nineveh (reign of Sennacherib)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/relief-sennacherib-storming-citadel-nineveh-704bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Card stacking). Content note: An Assyrian palace relief of troops storming a fortified city, with a file of figures below; Assyrian royal reliefs and texts record killing, mutilation and deportation, shown as carved, with the historical context and scholarly dispute on the regime page.
- [Colour lithograph of the Latin text of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti on the wall of the temple of Roma and Augustus at Ancyra, with the heading in large letters (Perrot, Guillaume and Delbet, 1872)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lithograph-res-gestae-ancyra-heading-0014/) (Roman Empire · 0014 · Card stacking, Glittering generalities)
- [Silver denarius of Vespasian, reverse IVDAEA with a trophy of arms and a seated mourning woman](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/denarius-vespasian-judaea-capta-0070/) (Roman Empire · 0070 · Card stacking). Content note: A Roman victory coin showing a mourning female figure as the personification of the conquered province of Judaea after the Roman suppression of the Jewish revolt; shown as struck, with the historical context on the regime page.