Dig for Victory

Why it works

Before the Second World War Britain imported around 55 million tons of food a year, and German U-boats went straight for the merchant ships carrying it. In October 1939 the Ministry of Agriculture launched a drive to turn gardens, parks and spare ground into vegetable plots, soon known by a three-word order: "Dig for Victory". Its most famous poster is a photograph of a booted foot pressing a spade into the soil, making digging look like action rather than a chore; this version adds a crowd of children's faces and the line "For their sake – grow your own vegetables". Posters were backed by millions of leaflets, broadcasts and demonstrations. The Imperial War Museums reports that by 1943 more than 1.4 million people had allotments, producing over a million tons of vegetables a year, and the government's Wartime Social Survey was asked to measure how well the campaign had worked. It is studied as a model behaviour-change campaign that paired a simple imperative with practical help.