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
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- His Majesty's Stationery Office (printed for HMSO by Multi Machine Plates 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
- Public domain (UK Crown copyright, 50 years from publication, expired before 1996; no URAA restoration)
UK government poster (His Majesty's Stationery Office), c. 1939-1945. US National Archives, NAID 44267163 (local identifier 44-PF-431).
Text on the object
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
