You Can Help to Build Me a Gun
A close photograph of a helmeted soldier points straight at the viewer, and the headline puts the first person in his mouth: 'YOU can help to build me a gun', with 'YOU' in red. The pointing figure and the first-person speech fuse the viewer's job with the soldier's need (identity-fusion), while the ordinary young soldier is the plain-folks tell.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Ministry of Labour and National Service (British government), via H.M. Stationery Office; printer J. Weiner 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
- Recruit
- Themes
- Labor, War and the military
- 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 (British government), via H.M. Stationery Office, Great Britain, 1939-1945. U.S. National Archives, Record Group 44.
Text on the object
YOU can help to build me a gun YOU CAN LEARN QUICKLY AND YOU WILL BE WORKING TO WIN ASK AT ANY EMPLOYMENT EXCHANGE FOR ADVICE AND FULL DETAILS. A JOB IS WAITING FOR YOU L.S.I. ISSUED BY THE MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND NATIONAL SERVICE PRINTED FOR H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE BY J. WEINER LTD., LONDON, W.C.1. 51-[illegible]
