The Squander Bug was a

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

created by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

National Savings Committee The National Savings Movement was a British mass savings movement that operated between 1916 and 1978 and was used to finance the deficit of government spending over tax revenues. The movement was instrumental during World War II in raising fu ...

to discourage wasteful spending and

consumption Consumption may refer to: *Resource consumption *Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically * Consumption (ecology), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms * Consumption (economics), the purchasing of newly produced goods for curren ...

. Originally designed by freelance illustrator

Phillip Boydell Phillip Boydell (1896 - 1984) was a British designer and illustrator. Life and work Boydell was born on 21 May 1896 in Tyldesley Lancashire, to Oliver Boydell (a master decorator) and Merinda. He obtained a scholarship at the Manchester School ...

for press

adverts Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

, the character was widely used by other wartime artists in

poster A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both typography, textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or w ...

campaigns and

political cartoons A political cartoon, a form of editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically combine ...

. It is one of the few propaganda campaigns from World War II to be fully documented from the original concept sketches to the finished adverts.

Joseph Darracott Joseph Corbould Darracott (22 February 1934–6 March 1998) was a British writer, art historian, editor and museum curator who for 14 years was Keeper of Art at the Imperial War Museum in London.HMSO The Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) is the body responsible for the operation of His Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) and of other public information services of the United Kingdom. The OPSI is part of the National Archives of the Un ...

, London, 1972. p. 62.

Creation

During the Second World War, the British National Savings Committee became concerned that inflated prices were being paid for

scarce In economics, scarcity "refers to the basic fact of life that there exists only a finite amount of human and nonhuman resources which the best technical knowledge is capable of using to produce only limited maximum amounts of each economic good. ...

consumer goods A final good or consumer good is a final product ready for sale that is used by the consumer to satisfy current wants or needs, unlike a intermediate good, which is used to produce other goods. A microwave oven or a bicycle is a final good, but ...

and believed that the money would be better spent on savings certificates to finance the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

, London, 1972. p. 21. The Committee felt that a way to ridicule indulgent spending was needed, without being boring or high-handed. To meet this need, Boydell produced a series of six sketches depicting an

imp IMP or imp may refer to: * Imp, a fantasy creature Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Imp (She-Ra), a character in ''She-Ra: Princess of Power'' * Imp a character in '' Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony'' * Imp, a character in the '' Clan ...

-like creature named the 'Money Grub' that could 'push, pull, scratch, bite and steal'. The concept was accepted almost as it stood, aside from the name being changed. The character was intended as a positive alternative to endless government warnings on what ''not'' to do, for example 'Don't waste fuel' or 'Don't waste paper'. Instead, the Squander Bug's

speech balloon Speech balloons (also speech bubbles, dialogue balloons, or word balloons) are a graphic convention used most commonly in comic books, comics, and cartoons to allow words (and much less often, pictures) to be understood as representing a char ...

s encouraged shoppers to waste their money on useless purchases, accompanied by captions urging consumers to fight or starve the creature. The character eventually gained

swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly in various Eurasian, as well as some African and American cultures, now also widely recognized for its appropriation by the Nazi Party and by neo-Nazis. It ...

tattoos and was even placed in

Madame Tussauds Madame Tussauds (, ) is a wax museum founded in 1835 by French wax sculptor Marie Tussaud in London, spawning similar museums in major cities around the world. While it used to be spelled as "Madame Tussaud's"; the apostrophe is no longer us ...

wax museum A wax museum or waxworks usually consists of a collection of wax sculptures representing famous people from history and contemporary personalities exhibited in lifelike poses, wearing real clothes. Some wax museums have a special section dubbe ...

alongside other war enemies such as

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...

and

Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

Usage

Boydell was mainly involved in developing the Squander Bug for press adverts, but the character was also adapted for use in poster campaigns with the same message. British wartime cartoonists such as David Low and

Carl Giles Ronald "Carl" Giles OBE (29 September 1916 – 27 August 1995), often referred to simply as Giles, was a cartoonist who worked for the British newspaper the '' Daily Express''. His cartoon style was a single topical highly detailed panel, us ...

also used the character, sometimes ironically. For example,

Victor Weisz Victor Weisz (25 April 1913 in Berlin, Germany – 23 February 1966 in London, England) was a German-British political cartoonist, drawing under the name of Vicky. Biography Weisz was born in Berlin, Germany, to Hungarian-Jewish parents. He stu ...

lampooned Hitler's manpower shortages by giving him his own pair of squander bugs. The character developed an international reputation, and an adapted version was used in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, where the Squander Bug was given a Japanese appearance. A Squander Bug character was also created by

Dr. Seuss Theodor Seuss Geisel (;"Seuss"
'' Americans Americans are the Citizenship of the United States, citizens and United States nationality law, nationals of the United States, United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many Multi ...

to buy

war bonds War bonds (sometimes referred to as Victory bonds, particularly in propaganda) are debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure in times of war without raising taxes to an unpopular level. They are a ...

, although the design was quite different from Boydell's version."Starve the Squander Bug: buy more war bonds."
University of North Texas Library. Accessed 13 October 2022.

In media

The Squander Bug is referenced in the 60s/

70s Ribosomes ( ) are macromolecular machines, found within all cells, that perform biological protein synthesis (mRNA translation). Ribosomes link amino acids together in the order specified by the codons of messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules to for ...

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

about the

Home Guard Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense. The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting wi ...

, ''

Dad's Army ''Dad's Army'' is a British television British sitcom, sitcom about the United Kingdom's Home Guard (United Kingdom), Home Guard during the World War II, Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft (TV producer), David Crof ...

'', in the episode "

Knights of Madness "Knights of Madness" is the third episode of the ninth and final series of the British comedy series ''Dad's Army''. It was originally transmitted on 16 October 1977. Synopsis To support the Wings for Victory Week, the platoon restages the Bat ...

" (Series 9: Episode 3), with

Private Pike Private Frank Pike is a fictional Home Guard private and junior bank clerk, first portrayed by actor Ian Lavender in the BBC television sitcom ''Dad's Army''. He was appointed as the platoon's information officer by Captain Mainwaring in The Ma ...

(

Ian Lavender Arthur Ian Lavender (born 16 February 1946) is an English stage, film and television actor. He is best known for his role as Private Pike in the BBC sitcom ''Dad's Army'', and is the last surviving major cast member of the series following the ...

) dressing up as the bug.

References

External links

{{wiktionary, squander
"Don't Let the Squander Bug Fool You"
��Women's Magazines at Cyberheritage
The War Years in Monkwearmouth by Sunderland Libraries
WW2 People's War at the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

. 1940s in Australia Economic history of the United Kingdom Fictional demons and devils Fictional insects Military history of Australia during World War II Propaganda cartoons United Kingdom home front during World War II