Blood-Poison: One Less Nail in Your Coffin
A claw hammer grips a rusty nail beside bent nails, under the word 'Blood-poison' and the line 'One less nail in your coffin'. The tell for fear appeal is the coffin: a workshop hazard is framed as a threat of death, followed by a plain instruction to pull out or knock down protruding nails.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Ministry of Labour and National Service, produced by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents; artist Pat Keely; printed by Loxley Bros. Ltd.
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Labor, Health
- 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)
Ministry of Labour and National Service and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents; artist Pat Keely; printed by Loxley Bros. Ltd. National Archives (NARA), Local Identifier 44-PF-319.
Text on the object
Pat Keely '41 BLOOD-POISON ONE LESS NAIL IN YOUR COFFIN Pull out or knock down protruding nails Issued by the Ministry of Labour and National Service and produced by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, Terminal House, 52, Grosvenor Gardens, London, S.W.1. ML/45 Printed by LOXLEY BROS. LTD.
