"Paper packs a punch - save it!!!"
A giant boxing glove marked 'Fighting materials made from waste paper' lands on the face of a caricatured Hitler, with swastikas on his collar. The tell is a weak fit for fear-appeal in reverse: it offers a simple, vivid payoff (the enemy punished) to motivate a household chore, saving waste paper.
Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Office of War Information (cartoon artwork; artist Charles Alston)
- 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, War and the military
- 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 (NARA), RG 208, Artworks and Mockups for Cartoons Promoting the War Effort (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-49 (NAID 535619).
Text on the object
FIGHTING MATERIALS MADE FROM WASTE PAPER "PAPER PACKS A PUNCH - SAVE IT!!!" [signed] Alston OWI
