---
title: All the Ear-Marks of a Sneaky Jap!
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/all-the-earmarks-of-a-sneaky-jap-1943/
description: 'A giant ear drawn as the Japanese rising-sun flag hangs over a shipyard while one worker starts to talk about his section and another hushes him: ''Don''t…'
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

**Content note:** Ethnic slur against Japanese people in the headline. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![All the Ear-Marks of a Sneaky Jap!](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/all-the-earmarks-of-a-sneaky-jap-1943.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/all-the-earmarks-of-a-sneaky-jap-1943.jpg)

# All the Ear-Marks of a Sneaky Jap!

A giant ear drawn as the Japanese rising-sun flag hangs over a shipyard while one worker starts to talk about his section and another hushes him: 'Don't discuss your job!' The headline attaches the slur 'Jap' and the trait 'sneaky' to a whole nationality, so the label, not any evidence, carries the warning.

- **Date:** 1943
- **Period:** [Second World War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=wwii)
- **Made by:** U.S. wartime plant-security poster (an RCA 'E' flag appears in the scene), held in the poster file of the Office of War Information, Bureau of Special Services; artist signed Alexander
- **Region:** [North America](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=north-america)
- **Country:** [United States](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=united-states)
- **Medium:** [Poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=poster)
- **Issuer type:** [Mixed](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=mixed)
- **Regime:** [Roosevelt Administration](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=roosevelt-administration)
- **Leader:** [Franklin D. Roosevelt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=franklin-d-roosevelt)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Mobilize or secure compliance](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=mobilize-comply)
- **Themes:** [Home front](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=home-front), [Security and surveillance](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=security-surveillance), [Race and ethnicity](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=race-ethnicity)
- **Event:** [World War II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=world-war-ii)
- **Techniques:** [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/) [Scapegoating](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/scapegoating/)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA 513778, local id 44-PA-331), via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%22All_the_earmarks_of_a_sneaky_jap%22_-_NARA_-_513778.jpg), retrieved September 27, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain (per Wikimedia Commons; tagged PD-USGov-Treasury) U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
ALL THE EAR-MARKS OF A SNEAKY JAP!

"OVER IN MY SECTION, WE'RE ....!!"

"HEY, SH!"

DON'T DISCUSS YOUR JOB!
```

The artist's signature ('Alexander') and small printer's-imprint text at bottom left/right ('LITHO. IN U.S.A.' and a form/stock number) are present but too small and low-contrast in this scan to transcribe reliably; not included above.

[← 'Instructions to All Persons of Japanese Ancestry' (exclusion order posted in San Francisco)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/exclusion-order-japanese-ancestry-1942/) [Americans Will Always Fight for Liberty →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/americans-will-always-fight-for-liberty-1943/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521/) (1521 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [Ondersoeckt de Geesten, ofse van den Duyvel syn, of niet (the De Witt brothers as devils)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ondersoeckt-de-geesten-de-witt-devils-1672/) (1672 · Scapegoating, Name-calling)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sans-culottes-bread-of-liberty-gillray-1793/) (Jan 12, 1793 · Fear appeal, Name-calling)
- [Exit Liberté a la Francois! or Buonaparte closing the Farce of Egalité, at St. Cloud (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/exit-liberte-buonaparte-gillray-1799/) (Nov 21, 1799 · Name-calling)
- [Van Moscouw tot Elba moest ik wyken (From Moscow to Elba I had to give way), Napoleon caricature by Wijnand Esser](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/van-moscouw-tot-elba-napoleon-esser-1814/) (1814 · Name-calling)