S.O.S. Careless talk costs lives and ships
A type-only poster spells S.O.S. in large letters with the Morse dots and dashes laid over them, above four lines warning against talk of ships, crews or harbours in the bar or the barber's. The fear appeal is the closing line, which ties idle talk to lost lives and ships and to the 'lurking submarine'.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- His Majesty's Stationery Office (printed for HMSO 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
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- War and the military, Security and surveillance
- 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; printed by Lowe & Brydone Printers Ltd. U.S. National Archives, WWII Foreign Posters (44-PF-395).
Text on the object
S.O.S. Never in the bar or barber's Talk of ships or crews or harbours Idle words - things heard or seen Help the lurking submarine Careless talk costs lives and ships AG 6 PRINTED FOR H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE BY LOWE & BRYDONE PRINTERS LTD., LONDON, N.W.10 51-8120
