---
title: The Enemy Has Long Ears (We in Scotland Must Be Most Careful)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-enemy-has-long-ears-scotland-1939/
description: A black battleship silhouette sits above the headline 'The Enemy Has Long Ears', with a text box asking people in Scotland not to talk about H.M. ships
section: Collection
---

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3. The Enemy Has Long Ears (We in Scotland Must Be Most Careful)

[![The Enemy Has Long Ears, 1939 UK poster: A black battleship silhouette sits above the headline 'The Enemy Has Long Ears'](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-enemy-has-long-ears-scotland-1939.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-enemy-has-long-ears-scotland-1939.jpg)

# The Enemy Has Long Ears (We in Scotland Must Be Most Careful)

A black battleship silhouette sits above the headline 'The Enemy Has Long Ears', with a text box asking people in Scotland not to talk about H.M. ships in public. The tell is the staged harm, 'Careless talk costs lives and ships', paired with a single prescribed remedy: keep silent.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
THE ENEMY HAS LONG EARS

We in Scotland must be most careful not to give away anything about H.M. ships - where they are, where they've come from, when they're sailing, where they're going. Many of us can't help seeing and hearing - we can help repeating: above all we can keep our mouths shut in public places

CARELESS TALK COSTS LIVES AND SHIPS

[imprint:] A.G.7. [handwritten: British] GIFT OF CENTRAL OUTDOOR ADVERTISING CO.
```

[← En Action! Une Pièce de 25 est Mise en Position](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-en-action-une-piece-de-25-mise-en-position-1939/) [Every Ship Launched Puts Heart Into Us..... →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-every-ship-launched-puts-heart-into-us-1939/)

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- [Tyrants Prostrate, Liberty Triumphant (pro-Polk cartoon on Dorr), 1844](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/tyrants-prostrate-liberty-triumphant-polk-1844/) (United States · 1844 · Name-calling, Fear appeal). Content note: Speech balloons contain anti-Catholic and nativist wording ('the ruins of Popery') in the mouths of the Whig figures, written by a Democratic cartoonist and shown unaltered.
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