Scrap It: Before It Scraps You
A pale spanner with a worn, open jaw hangs over a black field, and a small figure with an arm in a sling stands below. The tell for fear appeal is the small injured figure and the line 'Before it scraps you': a damaged tool is tied to a personal injury.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1942
- 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-382a.
Text on the object
Pat Keely '42 SCRAP IT Before it scraps you 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. BRITISH INFORMATION SERVICES 30 Rockefeller Plaza New York City ML/68 Printed by LOXLEY BROS. LTD.
