Separate the Steel Scrap Gremlins - Sort Steel Scrap with care - for Victory
Ten cartoon metal figures labelled with alloy contents (nickel, chrome, molybdenum, tungsten and others) tip their hats above a scene of the same figures wrecking a tank marked 'Britain'. The caption 'They are saboteurs IF YOU let them get together' labels mixed scrap as an enemy (name-calling) and shows the damage that careless sorting would do (fear-appeal).
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Iron and Steel Control, British government (Ministry of Supply)
- 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
- Economy and finance, 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)
Iron and Steel Control, British government (Ministry of Supply). National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), World War II Foreign Posters, NAID 44267069.
Text on the object
SEPARATE THE STEEL SCRAP GREMLINS NICKEL NICKEL CHROME MOLYBDENUM MANGANESE MOLYBDENUM NON-RUST AUSTENITIC CARBON CHROME HIGH SPEED TUNGSTEN NICKEL CHROME NON-RUST MARTENSITIC HIGH-SPEED MOLYBDENUM TUNGSTEN CHROME MOLYBDENUM SORTED OUT THEY MAKE MORE STEEL FOR VICTORY They are saboteurs IF YOU let them get together BRITAIN SORT STEEL SCRAP with care - for Victory ISSUED BY THE IRON AND STEEL CONTROL
