Keep It Dark: Careless Talk Costs Lives
A giant black hand lifts a dark curtain to uncover a convoy of ships at sea, under the red words 'Keep it dark' and 'Careless talk costs lives'. The picture makes the threat concrete (ships exposed) and the headline states the cost in lives, a fear appeal attached to a request for silence.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- British government poster, printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Multi Machine Plates Ltd., London; artist Maurice Bennett
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- War and the military, Security and surveillance
- Event
- World War II
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- 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 (UK Crown copyright, 50 years from publication, expired before 1996; no URAA restoration)
British government poster, printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Multi Machine Plates Ltd., London; artist Maurice Bennett. National Archives and Records Administration, WWII Foreign Posters (NAID 44266722, 44-PF-257).
Text on the object
KEEP IT DARK Careless Talk costs Lives Maurice Bennett PRINTED FOR H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE BY MULTI MACHINE PLATES LTD. LONDON E.C.4 51-3196
