Your Sugar Ration Is 2 lbs. per Month

A shop card shows four sacks of sugar in descending size, labelled with the monthly ration in America (2 lbs.), England, France (1 lb. 1 oz.) and Italy (11 oz.), under the heading 'Your Sugar Ration is 2 lbs. per month'. The comparison with the allied rations supplies the reason to comply; the tell is the selection of a single contrast, voluntary against compulsory rationing, as the justification.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Bandwagon Card stacking

Date: 1918
Period: First World War
Made by: U.S. Food Administration
Region: North America
Country: United States
Medium: Poster
Issuer type: State
Regime: Wilson Administration
Leader: Woodrow Wilson
Audience: Domestic public
Purpose: Mobilize or secure compliance
Themes: Home front, Economy and finance
Event: World War I
Regime: Wilson administration
Leader: Woodrow Wilson
Source: Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
Source: U.S. National Archives (NARA), RG 4 (U.S. Food Administration), World War I Posters (NAID 512439), retrieved October 3, 2026
Rights: NARA Unrestricted; hosted by owner decision
U.S. Food Administration. National Archives and Records Administration, 4-P-86.

Text on the object

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

THIS STORE IS PLEDGED TO CONFORM TO THE
SUGAR REGULATIONS OF THE U.S. FOOD ADMINISTRATION
Your Sugar Ration
is 2 lbs. per month
SUGAR 2 lbs.
SUGAR 1 lb. 1 oz.
SUGAR 11 oz.
AMERICA'S VOLUNTARY RATION
ENGLAND'S COMPULSORY RATION
FRANCE'S COMPULSORY RATION
ITALY'S COMPULSORY RATION
We must confine our consumption of Sugar
to not more than 2 lbs. per person per month
in order to provide a restricted ration
to England, France and Italy.

Small publisher's imprint at lower right is [illegible].