Address Your Letters Plainly
A smiling red pillar box in round white spectacles holds a sheet reading 'Address your letters plainly'. The tell for plain-folks is the homely, friendly cartoon of an everyday object delivering an administrative request in a familiar voice.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- General Post Office (GPO), printed for H.M. Stationery Office; artist Hans Schleger (signed 'Zero'); printer W. R. Royle & Son Ltd.
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Theme
- Home front
- Event
- World War II
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- 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 Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (UK Crown copyright, 50 years from publication, expired before 1996; no URAA restoration)
General Post Office; artist Hans Schleger (Zero); printed by W. R. Royle & Son Ltd for H.M. Stationery Office, 1939-1945. U.S. National Archives, WWII Foreign Posters (44-PF-64).
Text on the object
ADDRESS your letters PLAINLY PRINTED FOR H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE BY W. R. ROYLE & SON, LTD. PRD260. [signature in the painting:] ZERO
