Careless Talk Brings Tragedy in Wartime

Five numbered panels trace a chain from a soldier telling his sweetheart about a troop train, through her father and a club conversation overheard by a spy, to a saboteur and a wrecked train in the final scene. The tell is the fear appeal: the harm is dramatised as a derailment and each speaker is shown as a link in the chain.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Fear appeal

Date

1940

Period

Second World War

Made by

Director of Public Information, Ottawa, by authority of the Minister of National War Services (Hon. James G. Gardiner); artist L. B. Jameson

Region

North America

Country

Canada

Medium

Poster

Issuer type

State

Regime

Mackenzie King Government

Leader

William Lyon Mackenzie King

Audience

Domestic public

Purpose

Warn or inform

Themes

Security and surveillance, 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 by government imprint, 50 years from publication, expired; no URAA restoration)
Director of Public Information, Ottawa; artist L. B. Jameson, c. 1940. National Archives and Records Administration, NAID 44267573.

CARELESS TALK BRINGS TRAGEDY IN WARTIME

1 THE SOLDIER TOLD HIS SWEETHEART (ALL ABOUT THE TROOP TRAIN)
2 THE SWEETHEART TOLD HER FATHER
3 THE FATHER TALKED AT HIS CLUB (WHERE A SPY OVERHEARD)
4 THE SPY INSTRUCTED THE SABOTEUR
5 THE SABOTEUR WRECKED THE TRAIN

ISSUED BY THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC INFORMATION, OTTAWA
BY AUTHORITY OF HON. JAMES G. GARDINER, MINISTER OF NATIONAL WAR SERVICES.

[signature in the artwork:] L.B.JAMESON