Content note: Caricature of Adolf Hitler with an exaggerated ear, as printed. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Loose talk can cost lives
On a park bench a soldier talks to a young woman while, beside them, a man in a bowler hat with a toothbrush moustache hides behind a newspaper headed 'War moves' and grows an oversized ear toward them. The cartoon enemy as eavesdropper is a fear-appeal; caricaturing the listener as a figure of ridicule is name-calling.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1942
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- British and American Ambulance Corps, Inc. (artist Holmgren)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Mixed
- 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)
British and American Ambulance Corps, Inc.. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1304E (NAID 514915).
Text on the object
WAR MOVES LOOSE TALK CAN COST LIVES [signature:] HOLMGREN [imprint:] © 1942 [imprint:] DISTRIBUTED IN THE INTEREST OF NATIONAL DEFENSE, AND AS A MEANS OF OBTAINING FUNDS FOR AMBULANCES WHEREVER NEEDED. BRITISH AND AMERICAN AMBULANCE CORPS, INC., 420 LEXINGTON AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY [imprint:] LITHO. IN U.S.A.
