A rumor, like the seeds we sow, will grow and grow and grow. Don't be a blabbermouth
Yellow security poster: the words 'I HEARD' repeat in shrinking perspective beside a column of aircraft, all rising from a circle in which a soldier at a desk talks into a telephone, with 'blab-blab' and 'six engines' lines and a pin-up in his thought bubble. The label is name-calling ('Don't be a blabbermouth'); the repetition shows a rumour growing.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- OCASC Intelligence Section
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Own forces
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Security and surveillance, War and the military
- Event
- World War II
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Posters, retrieved October 4, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
OCASC Intelligence Section. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-292 (NAID 513739).
Text on the object
I HEARD I HEARD I HEARD I HEARD I HEARD BLAB-BLAB-BLAB LEAVING-TONIGHT BLAB-BLAB SIX-ENGINES A rumor, like the seeds we sow, will grow and grow and grow. DON'T BE A BLABBERMOUTH KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN AND YOUR MOUTH SHUT! [imprint: PRODUCTION OF OCASC -INTELLIGENCE SECTION-] [signature: illegible emblem at upper left]
