Content note: Caricature of a Japanese officer with exaggerated teeth and round glasses, printed as issued. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Keep your trap shut, careless talk may cost American lives
Careless-talk security poster: a caricatured Japanese officer, with round glasses, buck teeth and a rising-sun cap badge, crawls out from under a giant mousetrap that has snapped shut on a pair of legs in boots. The pun on 'trap' and the caption tie loose talk to American deaths, a fear-appeal, with the enemy drawn as a caricature.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Army Air Forces, Public Relations Branch, Publications Section; artist Ned Hilton
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Home front, 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. Army Air Forces, Public Relations Branch, Publications Section. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1222 (NAID 514828).
Text on the object
KEEP YOUR TRAP SHUT [signature: Ned Hilton] [imprint: PUBLICATIONS SECTION PUBLIC RELATIONS BRANCH U. S. ARMY AIR FORCES] CARELESS TALK MAY COST AMERICAN LIVES 7B
