Beware: Spreading Vital Information Will Undermine Our War Effort. Do Your Part in Silence

A large, shadowed, scowling face with a hand cupped behind its ear looms over three smiling servicemen, one holding a glass, who talk unaware. The tell is the oversized listener behind ordinary men, which attaches the danger of enemy ears to casual conversation.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Fear appeal

Date: 1940
Period: Second World War
Made by: Director of Public Information, Ottawa, under the authority of the Minister of National War Services; copy marked as from Central Outdoor Advertising Co.
Region: North America
Country: Canada
Medium: Poster
Issuer type: State
Regime: Mackenzie King Government
Leader: William Lyon Mackenzie King
Audience: Mixed
Purpose: Mobilize or secure compliance
Themes: Security and surveillance, War and the military, Home front
Event: World War II
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 Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
Rights: Public domain (Canadian Crown copyright, 50 years from publication, expired; no URAA restoration)
Director of Public Information, Department of National War Services (Canada), c. 1940-1945. U.S. National Archives, Record Group 44.

Text on the object

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

BEWARE

SPREADING VITAL INFORMATION
WILL UNDERMINE OUR WAR EFFORT
DO YOUR PART IN
SILENCE

ISSUED BY THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC INFORMATION, OTTAWA. UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER OF NATIONAL WAR SERVICES.
PRINTED IN CANADA

G.F. OF CENTRAL OUTDOOR ADVERTISING CO,