White feather

The white feather is a widely recognised propaganda symbol. The white feather was most prominently used in the 'white feather movement' in Britain during the First World War, in which women gave white feathers to non-enlisting men symbolizing cowardice and shaming them into signing up.

Other than the White Feather movement, it has, among other things, represented cowardice or conscientious pacifism; as in A. E. W. Mason's 1902 book The Four Feathers. In the United States armed forces, however, it is used to signify extraordinary bravery and excellence in combat marksmanship.