Careless Talk
A hand holds a telephone receiver against a hillside of wooden grave crosses and a falling aircraft, above the words 'Careless Talk'. The tell for fear-appeal is the grave imagery paired with the single prescribed remedy of not talking, with no figures given for how often talk caused losses.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1942
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Not stated; printer code '4015 PMEM 9-42'; artist signature (Morrey, as read)
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Security and surveillance, Home front
- Event
- World War II
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Source
- Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Held by NARA, Unrestricted; UK origin, printed 1942; hosted by owner decision
Issuer not stated; artist signature Morrey (as read). National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-128.
Text on the object
CARELESS TALK [signature:] Morrey [imprint:] 4015 | PMEM | 9-42
