'Daddy, what did YOU do in the Great War?

This famous British army recruitment poster of the First World War was designed to induce a sense of patriotic guilt in British men unwilling to volunteer for military service.

The slogan originated in a government newspaper advertisement that asked: 'What will you reply when your daughter grows up and says "Daddy, what did YOU do in the Great War?"' A shortened version of this text, placed below an illustration of a pensive-looking father at home with his daughter and son, was then used by the Parliamentary Recruitment Committee to create this enduring example of home front propaganda.
IWM Q 33122 (undated)
poster
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