Content note: British wartime poster using a gendered stereotype of a woman as a security risk, as issued. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Keep Mum - She's Not So Dumb! - Careless Talk Costs Lives
A glamorous blonde woman leans toward an RAF sergeant air gunner, her hand on his arm, above the line 'Keep mum - she's not so dumb!'. The poster stages a friendly conversation as a security threat (fear-appeal) and relies on the stereotype of a charming woman as a likely leak; nothing in the picture shows her actually passing information.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- His Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) for the British government; artist 'A.S.'; printed by Lowe & Brydone Printers Ltd., London
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Own forces
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Security and surveillance, War and the military
- 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)
His Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) for the British government; artist 'A.S.'; printed by Lowe & Brydone Printers Ltd., London. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), World War II Foreign Posters, NAID 44266728.
Text on the object
Keep mum — she's not so dumb! CARELESS TALK COSTS LIVES [signature:] A.S. PRINTED FOR H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE BY LOWE & BRYDONE PRINTERS LTD., N.W.10. 51-101
