---
title: 'The Battle for Fuel: Use less water'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-battle-for-fuel-use-less-water-1939/
description: A large black pointing hand over a tap and blue bathwater carries the words 'Use less water'. Tagged by technique, with source and rights.
section: Collection
---

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3. The Battle for Fuel: Use less water

[![The Battle for Fuel: Use less water, 1939 UK poster: A large black pointing hand over a tap and blue bathwater carries](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-battle-for-fuel-use-less-water-1939.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-battle-for-fuel-use-less-water-1939.jpg)

# The Battle for Fuel: Use less water

A large black pointing hand over a tap and blue bathwater carries the words 'Use less water'. The headline 'The Battle for Fuel' casts heating bathwater as a front-line contest, and the small print links it directly to 'more fuel for war weapons'.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Semantic hijacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/semantic-hijack/)

## Text on the object

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

```
THE BATTLE FOR FUEL

Use
less
water

NEVER WASH UNDER A RUNNING TAP. USE LESS WATER FOR
YOUR BATH! THAT MEANS MORE FUEL FOR WAR WEAPONS

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

[← The Battle for Fuel - Turn the Gas Down](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-battle-for-fuel-turn-the-gas-down-1939/) [The Battle for Fuel - Use Up Coal Dust →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-battle-for-fuel-use-up-coal-dust-1939/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Punch, 'The Jamaica Question' (Tenniel), 23 December 1865](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/punch-jamaica-question-1865/) (United Kingdom · Dec 23, 1865 · Name-calling, Semantic hijacking). Content note: Full-page period caricature of a Black Jamaican man, a white planter and a clergyman, made in the context of the 1865 Morant Bay killings.
- [Re-construction, or 'a white man's government'](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/reconstruction-white-mans-government-currier-ives-1868/) (United States · 1868 · Semantic hijacking). Content note: 1868 pro-Grant print with a racial slur and dialect in its printed speech.
- [True democracy is safe! (Puck)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/puck-true-democracy-is-safe-palmer-1896/) (United States · Sep 30, 1896 · Semantic hijacking)
- [Mr. John Dillon, M.P., on recruiting in Ireland. Join an Irish regiment to-day](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/john-dillon-on-recruiting-in-ireland-1915/) (United Kingdom · 1915 · Testimonial, Semantic hijacking)
- [Auch die Geduld hat ein Ende (Even Patience Has an End), German-language leaflet for German soldiers](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/allied-leaflet-auch-die-geduld-hat-ein-ende-1918/) (Transnational · 1918 · Scapegoating, Semantic hijacking)
- [Battle for Fuel: Use Less Coal & Coke](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/battle-for-fuel-use-less-coal-coke-uk-1939/) (United Kingdom · 1939 · Semantic hijacking)
- ['Zeitaku wa teki da!' (Luxury Is the Enemy!) street sign, Tokyo](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/luxury-is-the-enemy-sign-1940/) (Empire of Japan · Aug 1, 1940 · Semantic hijacking, Identity fusion)
- [Männer und Frauen der Untersteiermark! (leaflet for enrolment in the Styrian Homeland League)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/maenner-und-frauen-der-untersteiermark-1941/) (Nazi Germany · 1941 · Semantic hijacking, Scapegoating, Name-calling). Content note: Occupation proclamation with threats against 'elements hostile to the people'