Learning a lesson from the venereal disease epidemic among military personnel in Word War I, the U.S. government wanted to take no chances in World War II. They enlisted artists, designers, and advertising professionals to create a variety of public health posters about VD. Ryan Mungia published a collection of those posters in the book Protect Yourself: Venereal Disease Posters of World War II. He talked to Collectors Weekly about the campaign against VD. You’ll also find a gallery of the posters, which are quite artful in spite of their depressing subject matter.
(Image credit: courtesy Ryan Mungia from Protect Yourself)