Venereal Diseases: Here Comes the Bride
A white bridal silhouette is overshadowed by a huge dark hand, under the lines 'here comes the bride' and 'A man suffering from Venereal Disease who infects his wife commits a vile crime against her and children yet unborn'. The looming shadow and the moral charge frame infection as a threat to a wife and unborn children (fear appeal), and the poster closes with the offer of free, confidential treatment.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Ministry of Health and Central Council for Health Education; artist Reginald Mount; printed by W. R. Royle & Son Ltd for HMSO
- 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 Health and Central Council for Health Education; artist Reginald Mount; printed by W. R. Royle & Son Ltd for HMSO. c. 1939-1945. U.S. National Archives, NAID 44267319 (44-PF-494c).
Text on the object
REGINALD MOUNT VD Venereal Diseases here comes the bride A man suffering from Venereal Disease who infects his wife commits a vile crime against her and children yet unborn Confidential information and advice about venereal diseases and their treatment can be obtained FREE from the Local Health Department or from the Medical Adviser, Central Council for Health Education, Tavistock House, Tavistock Sq., London, W.C.1 Treatment is free and confidential ISSUED BY THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND CENTRAL COUNCIL FOR HEALTH EDUCATION PRINTED FOR H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE BY W. R. ROYLE & SON LTD. 51-3275
