The Battle for Fuel: How to Save in Your Home
A stylised three-storey house is linked by lines to four vignettes: a bedroom fire used only in illness, a shallow bath, a switched-off light, and one dish cooked per oven load. The tell for transfer is the title 'The Battle for Fuel', which carries the vocabulary of war onto household thrift.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- HM Stationery Office (government fuel-saving campaign); printed by Stafford & Co., Ltd., Netherfield, Nottingham
- 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
- Public domain (UK Crown copyright, 50 years from publication, expired before 1996; no URAA restoration)
HM Stationery Office (government fuel-saving campaign); printed by Stafford & Co., Ltd., Netherfield, Nottingham, undated (NARA gives no date). U.S. National Archives, NAID 44267155, local identifier 44-PF-427.
Text on the object
THE BATTLE FOR FUEL HOW TO SAVE IN YOUR HOME Only use the fire in your bedroom in case of illness. Never have more than 5 inches of water in your bath. Stop all dripping taps. Use fewer bulbs and always remember to switch off the light. Plan your cooking so that you never use your oven for a single dish. Printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Stafford & Co., Ltd., Netherfield, Nottingham. 51-3710
