Lack of Vitamins Can Strangle His Health
A photograph of a distressed baby is flanked by two large black silhouetted hands closing on its head and neck, under the headline that lack of vitamins 'can strangle his health'. The fear appeal stages an imminent physical threat to a child, then offers the remedy at once: orange juice and cod liver oil, available where the sign is shown.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Ministry of Food; printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Henry Hildesley 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
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Health, Home front
- 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 Food, printed for HMSO by Henry Hildesley Ltd., London, c. 1939-1945. U.S. National Archives, RG 44.
Text on the object
LACK OF VITAMINS CAN STRANGLE HIS HEALTH See he gets his Orange Juice and Cod Liver Oil regularly YOU CAN GET IT WHERE YOU SEE THIS SIGN PRINTED FOR H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE BY HENRY HILDESLEY LTD., LONDON. 51-958. ISSUED BY THE MINISTRY OF FOOD, LONDON, W.1.
