A Workman Gossiped - An Enemy Agent Acted: Don't Talk About Your War Job
Two photographs are stacked: a tram passenger speaking to a man in a hat while a third reads a newspaper, and below it an aerial view of a factory complex burning under heavy smoke. The headings link the talk to the fire; the fear appeal rests on that implied cause, shown as a result without any account of how the enemy agent learned of the plant.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Director of Public Information, Ottawa, under the authority of Hon. James G. Gardiner, Minister of National War Services (Canada)
- 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, expired)
Director of Public Information, Ottawa, for the Minister of National War Services (Canada), c. 1939-1945. National Archives and Records Administration, NAID 44267595.
Text on the object
A WORKMAN GOSSIPED DON'T TALK ABOUT YOUR WAR JOB AN ENEMY AGENT ACTED ISSUED BY THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC INFORMATION, OTTAWA, UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF HON. JAMES G. GARDINER, MINISTER OF NATIONAL WAR SERVICES.
