Content note: Enemy officer depicted as a chimpanzee in cap and glasses, as printed. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Keep talking I'm all ears
Black-and-white sheet showing a smiling chimpanzee in an officer's cap, round glasses and an armband with a sunburst-style emblem, under the words 'Keep Talking I'm All Ears'. The enemy spy is drawn as an ape listening in, with the loose-talk warning delivered in the spy's voice; the animal image dehumanises the enemy and the technique is name-calling.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Navy, Mare Island Navy Yard (designed and duplicated there)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Own forces
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Security and surveillance, War and the military, Race and ethnicity
- 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. Navy, Mare Island Navy Yard (designed and duplicated there). National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1206 (NAID 514812).
Text on the object
KEEP TALKING I'M ALL EARS Designed and Duplicated at Mare Island Navy Yard
