In the Blackout - Before You Alight Make Sure the Train is in the Station - Look for Platform

A stylised illustration shows half of a worried face seen through a diamond frame against a tiled wall, under the headline 'In the Blackout' and the instruction to check the train is in the station before alighting. The tell is the anxious eye as the staged image of danger, which conveys a risk of injury so that the reader follows the safety instruction.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Fear appeal

Date: 1939
Period: Second World War
Made by: London Underground (London Transport roundel); artist Hans Schleger ('Zero'); printed by The Baynard Press
Region: Western and Central Europe
Country: United Kingdom
Medium: Poster
Issuer type: Corporation
Regime: Churchill Government
Leader: Winston Churchill
Audience: Domestic public
Purpose: Warn or inform
Theme: Home front
Event: World War II
Regime: Churchill wartime government
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: Held by NARA, Unrestricted; hosted by owner decision (British wartime print, London Underground roundel)
London Underground (London Transport); artist Hans Schleger (Zero); printed by The Baynard Press. National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-239.

Text on the object

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

IN THE BLACKOUT

Before you alight
make sure the train
is in the station.
Look for platform

[signature:] ZERO
[imprint:] 943.1803.1500.   The Baynard Press.