Shoptalk may be Sabotalk: The Walls have Ears
A huge striped ear looms over a small red factory in a dark blue field, under the lines 'Shoptalk may be Sabotalk' and 'THE WALLS HAVE EARS'. The oversized ear stages an unseen listener as an imminent threat to war production, and the slogan offers silence about work as the protection.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1942
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Wartime Information Board, Ottawa; design courtesy Walls Have Ears Organization; artist Morris
- Region
- North America
- Country
- Canada
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Mackenzie King Government
- Leader
- William Lyon Mackenzie King
- Audience
- Mixed
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Security and surveillance, Labor
- 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 (Canada); artist Morris, 1942-1945. U.S. National Archives, Record Group 44.
Text on the object
Shoptalk may be Sabotalk THE WALLS HAVE EARS MORRIS ISSUED BY WARTIME INFORMATION BOARD, OTTAWA. PRINTED IN CANADA. DESIGN, COURTESY WALLS HAVE EARS ORGANIZATION AG-18
