Forensic Research Archive of Manipulation and Exploitation
Is Your Journey Really Necessary?, 1939 UK poster: A soldier in battledress with rifle and pack points out of the frame

Is Your Journey Really Necessary?

A soldier in battledress with rifle and pack points out of the frame at the viewer beside a ticket window, under the question 'Is your journey really necessary?' with 'REALLY' in red. The tell for transfer is the uniformed serviceman delivering the rebuke; the tell for fear-appeal is the implied cost to the war effort of an unnecessary trip.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

TransferFear appeal
Date
1939
Period
Second World War
Made by
Railway Executive Committee, artist Bert Thomas, printed by Haycock Press, 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, War and the military
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 (UK wartime poster, c. 1939-1945)
Railway Executive Committee, artist Bert Thomas, printed by Haycock Press, London, National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-244.

Text on the object

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

IS YOUR JOURNEY
REALLY
NECESSARY?

TICKETS

[signed:] BERT THOMAS
RAILWAY EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
[imprint:] 560  HAYCOCK PRESS, LONDON.

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