For work, for play, 3 squares a day
Nutrition poster: white silhouettes of a machinist, a woman at a washtub and a man with a hoe on a blue panel ('For work'), and a man with a fishing rod, a woman with a tennis racket and a boy with a bat on a red panel ('For play'). Below, '3 squares a day' and a family at table. The tell is ordinary workers and families standing in for the viewer.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1944
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- War Food Administration; artist Ted Jung
- 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
- Health, Home front
- 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)
War Food Administration. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-817 (NAID 514312).
Text on the object
For work For play 3 "squares" a day EAT THE BASIC 7 WAY War Food Administration [signature: ted jung] [imprint: U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1944-O-596810]
