Somebody blabbed - Button your lip! (sailor's hand and cap in water)
A drowning man's hand reaches up from dark blue water beside a floating sailor's cap, under the headline 'Somebody blabbed' and the line 'Button your lip!'. A torn-paper panel lists ship movements and war production as subjects not to discuss. The tell is fear-appeal: a lost sailor is tied to civilian talk, without a named incident.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1942
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Office of Facts and Figures (GPO Jacket No. 451041); artist Albert Dorne
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Home front, Security and surveillance, War and the military
- 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)
Office of Facts and Figures. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1776 (NAID 515449).
Text on the object
SOMEBODY BLABBED ...don't talk about ship movements! ...don't talk about war production! BUTTON YOUR LIP! [signature:] ALBERT DORNE For additional copies write to Graphics Division, Office of Facts and Figures, Washington, D.C. . . . Specify GPO Jacket No. 451041. [imprint:] ☆ U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1942—O
