---
title: Use it up - wear it out - make it do!
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/use-it-up-wear-it-out-make-it-do-1943/
description: 'Home-front thrift poster: a woman in a yellow dress kneels with needle and thread, mending the patched trousers of a man who bends over a push lawn mower.'
section: Collection
---

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3. Use it up - wear it out - make it do!

[![Use it up - wear it out - make it do!, 1943 US poster: Home-front thrift poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/use-it-up-wear-it-out-make-it-do-1943.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/use-it-up-wear-it-out-make-it-do-1943.jpg)

# Use it up - wear it out - make it do!

Home-front thrift poster: a woman in a yellow dress kneels with needle and thread, mending the patched trousers of a man who bends over a push lawn mower, with a sewing basket at her feet. The ordinary couple is the plain-folks device; the slogan 'Our labor and our goods are fighting' is a broad virtue phrase tied to saving goods.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Plain folks](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/plain-folks/) [Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
USE IT UP - WEAR IT OUT -
MAKE IT DO!
OUR LABOR AND OUR GOODS ARE FIGHTING
[imprint: OWI Poster No. 39. Additional copies may be obtained upon request from the Division of Public Inquiries, Office of War Information, Washington, D. C.]
[imprint: U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1943—O—[illegible]]
```

[← U.S.A. in Action: Official Pictures from World Battlefronts](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/usa-in-action-official-pictures-world-battlefronts-army-1943/) [Use your skill to build and fight →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/use-your-skill-to-build-and-fight-engineers-1943/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Trois Tetes sous l'meme bonnet (three heads under the same cap)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/trois-tetes-sous-le-meme-bonnet-1789/) (France · 1789 · Plain folks, Glittering generalities)
- ['This log cabin was the first building erected on the North Bend', Whig print by T. Sinclair, 1840](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/harrison-north-bend-log-cabin-sinclair-1840/) (United States · 1840 · Plain folks, Transfer)
- [Treeing Coons (pro-Polk cartoon), 1844](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/treeing-coons-polk-1844/) (United States · 1844 · Name-calling, Plain folks)
- [Zachary Taylor, People's Candidate for President (Currier banner), 1848](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/taylor-fillmore-peoples-candidate-1848/) (United States · 1848 · Plain folks, Glittering generalities)
- ['Little Mac.' (from the Democratic presidential campaign songster)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/little-mac-song-sheet-feeks-1864/) (United States · 1864 · Bandwagon, Plain folks)
- [The peoples' choice, H. Greeley G. Brown](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/peoples-choice-greeley-brown-1872/) (United States · 1872 · Bandwagon, Plain folks)
- [The working-man's banner. For President, Ulysses S. Grant, 'The Galena Tanner.' For Vice-President, Henry Wilson, 'The Natick Shoemaker.'](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/working-mans-banner-grant-1872/) (United States · 1872 · Plain folks, Transfer)
- [The Chappaqua farmer](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/chappaqua-farmer-1872/) (United States · Jul 1872 · Plain folks, Glittering generalities)