Content note: An ape-bodied caricature of the German leader, shown as printed. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Look Who's Listening: Careless talk costs lives
Black-and-white security sheet: a hairy, tailed ape caricature with a forelock and small moustache clings to a telephone pole and holds a receiver to its ear, while a uniformed soldier speaks into a phone in a booth below. Depicting the enemy as an ape is name-calling; the tapped line implies phone talk is overheard, a fear-appeal to servicemen.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Army intelligence section (G-2, VI AC), artist Stephen Searles
- 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
- 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. Army intelligence section (G-2, VI AC). National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1302 (NAID 514908).
Text on the object
LOOK WHO'S Listening CARELESS TALK COSTS LIVES PHONE BOOTH [signature:] Stephen Searles [imprint:] G-2 VI AC NO 13
