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Australian Army Museum of Western Australia > Records

Poster - Squander Bug

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Overview

The Squander Bug was a World War II propaganda character created by the British National Savings Committee to discourage wasteful spending and consumption. Originally designed by freelance illustrator Phillip Boydell for press adverts, the character was widely used by other wartime artists in poster campaigns and political cartoons.

Historical information

The Squander Bug is one of the few propaganda campaigns from World War II to be fully documented from the original concept sketches to the finished adverts. The character developed an international reputation, and an adapted version was used in Australia, where the Squander Bug was given a Japanese appearance. A Squander Bug character was also created by Dr. Seuss to encourage Americans to buy war bonds, although the design was quite different from Boydell's version.

Details

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-32-99-231

Themes

Art and Design
War and Conflict

Contextual Information

The Squander Bug may be found in the Army Museum of WA Homefront exhibition areas

Australian Army Museum of Western Australia

Australian Army Museum of Western Australia

Organisation Details
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