Use It Up – Wear It Out – Make It Do!
Office of War Information (US)1943
Use It Up – Wear It Out – Make It Do! is a 1943 home-front poster (offset lithograph) for Office of War Information.
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The line
Use it up – wear it out – make it do!
Why it works
The American home front's thrift ethic in one domestic scene. Issued in 1943 as Office of War Information poster no. 39, it shows a woman in a yellow dress sewing a patch onto the seat of a man's trousers while he bends to repair a lawnmower, a sewing basket at her feet, under the words "Use it up – wear it out – make it do!" and the reminder "Our labor and our goods are fighting". As the National Archives explains, gasoline, rubber, sugar, butter and meat were scarce because they were going to the troops, so civilians were urged to conserve and salvage. The National Park Service notes that with twenty commodities rationed, Americans were asked to use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without. It is studied as advertising that sells consuming less, making repair look patriotic and modelling the exact behaviour it wants; the National Archives named the rationing section of its Powers of Persuasion exhibition after the slogan.
Techniques
- Plain folks An ordinary couple patching trousers and mending a lawnmower presents thrift as everyday domestic life rather than sacrifice.
- Logos A simple three-step instruction gives a practical rule for conserving goods that were going to the troops.
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