Stop. Stop stealing tools! That crew will need them in combat
Home-front tool-theft poster: a white-gloved hand in a stars-and-stripes sleeve grips the wrist of an open bare hand above a flashlight, wrenches, pliers, screwdriver and goggles, under the word STOP. The Uncle Sam sleeve lends national authority to the order (transfer), and the line about a combat crew needing the tools ties petty theft to danger for servicemen (a mild fear-appeal).
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1944
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. government home-front poster (issuer not printed; U.S. Government Printing Office imprint only)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Home front, War and the military, Labor
- 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)
U.S. government home-front poster. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-116 (NAID 513564).
Text on the object
STOP STOP STEALING TOOLS! THAT CREW WILL NEED THEM IN COMBAT [imprint: U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1944-O-601870]
