--- title: '"Turn the Spotlight on the Traitor!!"' url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-owi-alston-turn-the-spotlight-on-the-traitor-1943/ description: A spotlight catches a hunched, wary man labelled 'Black Market Operator' as he carries a carcass and a sack out of a doorway marked 'The Nation's Food section: Collection --- 1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/) 2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/) 3. "Turn the Spotlight on the Traitor!!" **Content note:** A cartoon showing a hunched, caricatured man labelled 'Black Market Operator' carrying stolen meat from a food-supply doorway under a spotlight, as published. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) [!["Turn the Spotlight on the Traitor!!", 1943 US cartoon: A spotlight catches a hunched, wary man labelled 'Black Market](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/us-owi-alston-turn-the-spotlight-on-the-traitor-1943.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/us-owi-alston-turn-the-spotlight-on-the-traitor-1943.jpg) # "Turn the Spotlight on the Traitor!!" A spotlight catches a hunched, wary man labelled 'Black Market Operator' as he carries a carcass and a sack out of a doorway marked 'The Nation's Food Supply'. The caption calls him a traitor. The tell is name-calling and scapegoating: a wartime shortage is personified in one figure, and the label 'traitor' is applied to rationing violators. ## Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon [Scapegoating](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/scapegoating/) [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/) ## Text on the object Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked ``` THE NATION'S FOOD SUPPLY BLACK MARKET OPERATOR "TURN THE SPOTLIGHT ON THE TRAITOR!!" 36 1/2 Picas Alston OWI ``` [← "They Need You - Now!!"](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-owi-alston-they-need-you-now-1943/) ["Your Shoes Have Gone to War" →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-owi-alston-your-shoes-have-gone-to-war-1943/) ## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques - [Der Warner (broadsheet lampoon on the Jesuits after Breitenfeld and Rain)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/der-warner-anti-jesuit-broadsheet-1632/) (Holy Roman Empire · 1632 · Scapegoating, Fear appeal) - [Ondersoeckt de Geesten, ofse van den Duyvel syn, of niet (the De Witt brothers as devils)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ondersoeckt-de-geesten-de-witt-devils-1672/) (Dutch Republic · 1672 · Scapegoating, Name-calling) - [Proclamation de Sonthonax en créole, Cap-Français (Proclamation of Commissioner Sonthonax in Creole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sonthonax-proclamation-creole-1793/) (France · Aug 29, 1793 · Fear appeal, Scapegoating). Content note: Colonial-era proclamation on slavery and emancipation in Saint-Domingue; speaks of slaves, whips and 'Nègues' in period terms. - ["Old Jack, the famous New Orleans mouser" (pro-Jackson print, 1832)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/old-jack-mouser-bank-clay-rats-1832/) (United States · 1832 · Name-calling, Scapegoating) - [Proclamation by the Queen in Council, to the Princes, Chiefs, and People of India (printed sheet, Allahabad, 1 November 1858)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/queens-proclamation-to-the-people-of-india-1858/) (British India · Nov 1, 1858 · Glittering generalities, Scapegoating) - [Union and liberty! And union and slavery!](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/union-and-liberty-1864/) (United States · 1864 · Scapegoating, Fear appeal) - [The Great November Contest. Patriotism versus Bummerism](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/great-november-contest-bummerism-1868/) (United States · 1868 · Fear appeal, Scapegoating, Name-calling). Content note: 1868 print with a racial slur, racist caricature and dialect; the Library of Congress describes it as strongly racist. - [You must make your choice. Birds of a feather flock together](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/miller-birds-of-a-feather-1872/) (United States · 1872 · Transfer, Scapegoating)