The intent of the poster was to encourage women to tell men they should sign up to the army at a time when British voluntary recruit numbers were declining.

The government relied on propaganda to persuade men to enlist in the army,[2] and posters were an important medium to achieve this.

[3] The approach to propaganda taken by the first recruitment posters was a simple "call to arms" encouraging men to sign up to fight.

[5] Some focused on female imagery[6] by highlighting the innocent vulnerability of mothers, wives and daughters, the strength and resilience of a worker taking part in the war effort embodying the spirit of Britannia, or by depicting women as objects of desire.

[3] Historian Karyn Burnham suggests that from a masculine perspective, some posters attempted to guilt men by implying they would be emasculated if they did not fight.

[1][a] The poster is an ink illustration[11] of two women and a young boy[b] looking out of an open window at a countryside landscape with soldiers marching away.

[4] Art historian Stephen J. Eskilson describes the imagery of the poster as "striking" with the text only serving to emphasise the underlying intent.

World War I recruitment posters used these anxieties to their advantage, reinforcing the gender stereotypes of women staying at home and men as protectors.

[4] The countryside landscape in the background, evocative of the green and pleasant land described by the English poet William Blake, emphasised the fact that men were expected to protect this element of the country.

[13] The government was aware of the influence that women had in the lives and decisions of men at the time:[14] in 2023, brand communication executive Farhan Urfi summarised the poster's message as "if your mum, your wife, your daughter is saying 'Go to war!

[15] The Imperial War Museum describes the poster as an example of one of the more sophisticated and nuanced ways the British government tried to recruit men to the army.

Among those who criticised the sentiment that women would want men to fight were the poets Richard Aldington, Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon.