If you must talk, tell it to the Marines
Security-of-information poster: the headline 'If you must talk' sits above a red brush-stroke block reading 'Tell it to the Marines', with the word MARINES in large navy capitals and the Marine Corps eagle, globe and anchor emblem at upper right. There are no figures. The technique is faint: the Corps emblem and name carry the message, a light use of transfer.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1942
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Marine Corps
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Mixed
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- War and the military, Security and surveillance
- Event
- World War II
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- 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 Posters, retrieved October 4, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
U.S. Marine Corps. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1067 (NAID 514591).
Text on the object
IF YOU MUST TALK ... TELL IT TO THE MARINES [imprint: small print at lower left, partly legible, appears to read: MCPR [illegible] 7-16-42 20M]
