During the First World War in Australia, atrocity propaganda was one of the main means through which the government sought to boost support for the conflict. Focusing upon the deaths of civilians of Belgians during the German invasion, atrocity propaganda was lurid and detailed. In contrast, despite the atrocities endured by Australian soldiers in Japanese POW camps, and the genocidal campaign against Jews in Europe, atrocity propaganda was rarely used. This paper analyses the reasons for these differences, which were complex and interacted to create an environment in which atrocities were rarely mentioned by official propagandists. It demonstrates that the backlash against Great War atrocity propaganda made the public suspicious and hostile towards atrocity propaganda – a campaign about the Japanese was shut down in 1942 after a public outcry. Another reason was that there was concern an atrocity propaganda campaign about POW campaigns would result in reprisals against Australian and Allied soldiers. Finally, the inter-Allied nature of publicity campaigns created an environment of bureaucratic inertia and confused propaganda strategies, with the United States, Australia and Great Britain failing to come to an agreement regarding a campaign about Japanese POW camps until the end of the war.