Don't Discuss Military Matters - Telephones Can Be Tapped
A woman on the telephone says 'Yes, Billy - this is Geraldine speaking'; a cartoon figure up a telegraph pole with a headset answers 'And this is Jerry listening...!', above 'Don't discuss military matters - telephones can be tapped'. The tell is the threat of an unseen enemy listener; the poster is a security warning in cartoon form.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- No issuer named; printer's code 3995/PMEE/3; artist signature illegible
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Mixed
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Security and surveillance, War and the military
- Event
- World War II
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Source
- Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Held by NARA, Unrestricted; hosted by owner decision
Issuer not stated, National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-417.
Text on the object
YES, BILLY -THIS IS GERALDINE SPEAKING.. YES, SILLY -AND THIS IS JERRY LISTENING...! Don't Discuss Military Matters TELEPHONES can be TAPPED [code:] 3995/PMEE/3
