Sealed Lips Will Save Our Ships

A drawn sailor in a Royal Canadian Navy cap holds a finger to his lips under the words 'Sealed lips will save our ships'. The 'our' joins the viewer to the navy's fate, and the uniformed figure makes silence an act of service, a fusion of the viewer's identity with the fleet.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Identity fusion

Date

1940

Period

Second World War

Made by

Director of Public Information, under the Minister of National War Services, Ottawa; copy gift of 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), 1940-1945. U.S. National Archives, Record Group 44.

R.C.N.

SEALED LIPS
WILL SAVE
OUR SHIPS

ISSUED BY THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC INFORMATION, UNDER AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER OF NATIONAL WAR SERVICES, OTTAWA.
Printed in Canada
AGE. 6
[stamp:] GIFT OF CENTRAL OUTDOOR ADVERTISING CO.
[pencil:] Canada