Are You Guilty? Your Leaky Water Tap Wastes
A brass tap drips under the headline 'Are YOU guilty?' with the figures 1 drop per second, 7 pints per day, 6 gallons per week and 312 gallons per year, and the request to renew the washer and so save coal, gas, electricity and man-power. The sheet is a domestic water-saving notice. The closest fit is card-stacking: figures are scaled up from one drip with no total supply for comparison, and the headline addresses the reader directly.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Metropolitan Water Board; printed by McCorquodale & Co., Ltd., London
- 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
- Themes
- Home front, Economy and finance
- 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
- Held by NARA, Unrestricted; hosted by owner decision (Metropolitan Water Board imprint)
Metropolitan Water Board; printed by McCorquodale & Co., Ltd., London. National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-72.
Text on the object
Are YOU guilty ? YOUR LEAKY WATER TAP WASTES 1 DROP PER SECOND, 7 PINTS PER DAY, 6 GALLONS PER WEEK OR 312 GALLONS PER YEAR! PLEASE RENEW THAT WASHER & STOP THAT LEAK TO-DAY YOU WILL ALSO BE SAVING COAL, GAS, ELECTRICITY & MAN-POWER METROPOLITAN WATER BOARD [imprint:] McCorquodale & Co., Ltd., London.
