Forensic Research Archive of Manipulation and Exploitation
The Merchant Service Is Silent Too! Don't Talk About Cargoes or Ship Sailings, 1942 Canada poster: A low-angle photograph

The Merchant Service Is Silent Too! Don't Talk About Cargoes or Ship Sailings

A low-angle photograph shows a merchant seaman in a hooded duffel coat gazing past a mast, with yellow text saying the Merchant Service 'is Silent too' and telling civilians not to talk about cargoes or sailings. The seaman's stoic image is used as a model of discretion (transfer), asking civilians to match it.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Transfer
Date
1942
Period
Second World War
Made by
Wartime Information Board, Ottawa; photograph by Nicholas Morant, National Film Board
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, 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)
Wartime Information Board, Ottawa; photograph by Nicholas Morant, National Film Board. U.S. National Archives (RG 44).

Text on the object

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

THE MERCHANT SERVICE
IS Silent TOO !
DON'T TALK ABOUT CARGOES OR SHIP SAILINGS

Photo by Nicholas Morant, N.F.B.
ISSUED BY WARTIME INFORMATION BOARD, OTTAWA. Printed in Canada. WIB-3E

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