Content note: A wall poster within the cartoon shows a caricature of Hitler wearing a swastika armband. This object is shown as it was published. Why
It's Either That, or Time off Until a Day Nursery Is Organized!
In a munitions plant, a foreman with a clipboard faces a woman worker while two small children sit inside shell casings at his feet; a wall poster reads 'Absenteeism Aids Adolf - Keep on the Job!' beside a caricature of Hitler saying 'Danken Sie!'. The tell is a fear appeal inside a joke: absence from work is framed as help to the enemy, while the caption points to the child-care problem behind it.
Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Office of War Information (cartoon artwork; artist Gregory d'Alessio)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Cartoon
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Home front, Labor, Gender and suffrage
- Event
- World War II
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 208, OWI Cartoon Artworks (NAID 535594), retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
Office of War Information. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 208, 208-COM-568 (NAID 7452286).
Text on the object
ACME MUNITIONS MFG. CO. INC. ABSENTEEISM AIDS ADOLF "DANKEN SIE!" KEEP ON THE JOB! BEAT THE QUOTA! "IT'S EITHER THAT, OR TIME OFF UNTIL A DAY NURSERY IS ORGANIZED!" Gregory d'Alessio FOR OWI 1943 3RD PRIZE 117
