---
title: Pause when you go out into the dark to let your eyes get used to the Black-out
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-pause-when-you-go-out-into-the-dark-1941/
description: Two stylised eyes on a black field show a small pupil 'in the light' and a large pupil 'in the dark', above the instruction to pause before walking out
section: Collection
---

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3. Pause when you go out into the dark to let your eyes get used

[![Pause when you go out into the dark to let your eyes get used to the Black-out, 1941 UK poster: Two stylised eyes on a black](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-pause-when-you-go-out-into-the-dark-1941.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-pause-when-you-go-out-into-the-dark-1941.jpg)

# Pause when you go out into the dark to let your eyes get used to the Black-out

Two stylised eyes on a black field show a small pupil 'in the light' and a large pupil 'in the dark', above the instruction to pause before walking out into the blackout. The physiological diagram lends scientific authority to a simple request (transfer); the stated reason is factual.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)

## Text on the object

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

```
IN THE LIGHT the pupil of the eye is small so that unnecessary light is excluded from the eye

IN THE DARK the pupil gradually grows larger to enable you to see better

Pause
when you go out into the dark
to let your eyes get used to
the Black-out

ISSUED BY THE MINISTRY OF WAR TRANSPORT

Printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Wm. Brown & Co., Ltd., London, E.C.3.-51-4576
```

[← Back Them Up! (capture of U 570 by a Lockheed Hudson)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-back-them-up-u570-hudson-1941/) [Retailers' Pooled Delivery Service →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-retailers-pooled-delivery-service-1941/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [Clay cylinder with the Ehulhul inscription of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, describing work on three temples](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cylinder-nabonidus-ehulhul-inscription-555bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial)
- [Glazed-brick panel with a striding lion, from Babylon (reign of Nebuchadnezzar II)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ishtar-gate-panel-striding-lion-nebuchadnezzar-ii-604bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)