---
title: The Battle for Fuel - Switch off Lights
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-battle-for-fuel-switch-off-lights-1939/
description: A black pointing hand labelled 'Switch off lights' points at a chandelier, two of its three bulbs crossed out in black.
section: Collection
---

1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/)
2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)
3. The Battle for Fuel - Switch off Lights

[![The Battle for Fuel - Switch off Lights, 1939 UK poster: A black pointing hand labelled 'Switch off lights' points](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-battle-for-fuel-switch-off-lights-1939.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-battle-for-fuel-switch-off-lights-1939.jpg)

# The Battle for Fuel - Switch off Lights

A black pointing hand labelled 'Switch off lights' points at a chandelier, two of its three bulbs crossed out in black, under the headline 'The Battle for Fuel'. The war word 'battle' transfers military urgency to household lighting, and the small print gives a claim: if all halved their lighting, thousands of tons of coal would be saved daily.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
THE BATTLE FOR FUEL

Switch
off
lights

IF WE ALL HALVED OUR LIGHTING, THOUSANDS OF TONS OF
COAL WOULD BE SAVED FOR WAR PRODUCTION EVERY DAY

PRINTED FOR H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE BY MULTI MACHINE PLATES LTD. LONDON E.C.4. 51-2708
```

[← The Battle for Fuel - We Must All Keep Within Our Target!!](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-battle-for-fuel-keep-within-our-target-fuel-units-1939/) [The Battle for Fuel - Turn the Gas Down →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-battle-for-fuel-turn-the-gas-down-1939/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [Clay cylinder with the Ehulhul inscription of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, describing work on three temples](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cylinder-nabonidus-ehulhul-inscription-555bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial)
- [Glazed-brick panel with a striding lion, from Babylon (reign of Nebuchadnezzar II)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ishtar-gate-panel-striding-lion-nebuchadnezzar-ii-604bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
