---
title: 'Follow His Example: Never talk to anybody about your load or destination'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-follow-his-example-careless-talk-1939/
description: A photograph of ordinary working men in a cafe shows one asking a driver about the shells he is carrying; the driver, in a peaked cap.
section: Collection
---

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3. Follow His Example: Never talk to anybody about your load

[![Follow His Example: Never talk to anybody about your load or destination, 1939 UK poster: A photograph of ordinary working](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-follow-his-example-careless-talk-1939.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-follow-his-example-careless-talk-1939.jpg)

# Follow His Example: Never talk to anybody about your load or destination

A photograph of ordinary working men in a cafe shows one asking a driver about the shells he is carrying; the driver, in a peaked cap, answers 'That's my business! How do I know who you are?'. The tell for plain-folks is the everyday cafe setting and the common worker held up as the model to copy.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Plain folks](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/plain-folks/)

## Text on the object

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

```
Looks like shells you've got there.
Taking them far?

That's MY business!
How do I know who you are?

FOLLOW HIS EXAMPLE
Never talk to anybody about your load or destination

Printed for H.M.Stationery Office by Multi Machine Plates Ltd. London E.C.4. 51-2301
```

[← You Have a House, Your Friends Have a House, You May Lose Yours, But They'll Put You Up for a Time: Fix Things Up Now](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-fix-things-up-now-bombed-out-1939/) [The Forces Require All Your Scrap Rubber Now →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-forces-require-all-your-scrap-rubber-now-1939/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Trois Tetes sous l'meme bonnet (three heads under the same cap)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/trois-tetes-sous-le-meme-bonnet-1789/) (France · 1789 · Plain folks, Glittering generalities)
- ['This log cabin was the first building erected on the North Bend', Whig print by T. Sinclair, 1840](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/harrison-north-bend-log-cabin-sinclair-1840/) (United States · 1840 · Plain folks, Transfer)
- [Treeing Coons (pro-Polk cartoon), 1844](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/treeing-coons-polk-1844/) (United States · 1844 · Name-calling, Plain folks)
- [Zachary Taylor, People's Candidate for President (Currier banner), 1848](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/taylor-fillmore-peoples-candidate-1848/) (United States · 1848 · Plain folks, Glittering generalities)
- ['Little Mac.' (from the Democratic presidential campaign songster)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/little-mac-song-sheet-feeks-1864/) (United States · 1864 · Bandwagon, Plain folks)
- [The peoples' choice, H. Greeley G. Brown](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/peoples-choice-greeley-brown-1872/) (United States · 1872 · Bandwagon, Plain folks)
- [The working-man's banner. For President, Ulysses S. Grant, 'The Galena Tanner.' For Vice-President, Henry Wilson, 'The Natick Shoemaker.'](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/working-mans-banner-grant-1872/) (United States · 1872 · Plain folks, Transfer)
- [The Chappaqua farmer](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/chappaqua-farmer-1872/) (United States · Jul 1872 · Plain folks, Glittering generalities)