Keep It Dark! (If you've news of our munitions)
A text-only poster in white on dark blue runs a verse about munitions, ships, planes and troop positions, each stanza closing on 'KEEP IT DARK'. The fear-appeal tell is the flat statement 'Lives are lost through conversation', which attaches a death toll to ordinary talk.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- H.M. Stationery Office (British government); printed by Perry Colourprint Ltd., S.W.15
- 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
- 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 Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (UK Crown copyright, 50 years from publication, expired before 1996; no URAA restoration)
H.M. Stationery Office, printed by Perry Colourprint Ltd, c. 1939-1945. National Archives and Records Administration, NAID 44266720.
Text on the object
If you've news of our munitions KEEP IT DARK Ships or 'planes or troop positions KEEP IT DARK Lives are lost through conversation Here's a tip for the duration When you've private information KEEP IT DARK! [small print:] Printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Perry Colourprint Ltd S.W.15 T51-6503
