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
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Office of War Information (OWI Poster No. 39)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Home front, Economy and finance
- 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 44, World War II Posters, retrieved October 4, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
Office of War Information. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-382 (NAID 513834).
Text on the object
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]]
