---
title: Telegraph Less - Telephone Less
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-telegraph-less-telephone-less-gpo-1939/
description: A text-only poster in italic and roman type on a blue ground says the telegraph and telephone services depend on their operators and that 'Man-power.
section: Collection
---

1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/)
2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)
3. Telegraph Less - Telephone Less

[![Telegraph Less - Telephone Less, 1939 UK poster: A text-only poster in italic and roman type on a blue ground says](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-telegraph-less-telephone-less-gpo-1939.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/uk-telegraph-less-telephone-less-gpo-1939.jpg)

# Telegraph Less - Telephone Less

A text-only poster in italic and roman type on a blue ground says the telegraph and telephone services depend on their operators and that 'Man-power, the nation's most vital asset, is in short supply'. The large red and black 'Telegraph LESS / Telephone LESS' lines make the request, and the phrase 'the nation's most vital asset' is the elevated virtue-style wording that carries the appeal.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/)

## Text on the object

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

```
The telegraph and telephone
services depend upon the men
& women who operate them ·
Man-power, the nation's most
vital asset, is in short supply ·
Telegraph LESS
Telephone LESS
PRINTED FOR H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE BY MULTI MACHINE PLATES LTD. LONDON E.C.4. 51-3603
PRD 301
```

[← Tank landing craft lead our attack: our engines power the offensive](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-tank-landing-craft-lead-our-attack-1939/) [Telegraph Less →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/uk-telegraph-less-zero-1939/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Colour lithograph of the Latin text of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti on the wall of the temple of Roma and Augustus at Ancyra, with the heading in large letters (Perrot, Guillaume and Delbet, 1872)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lithograph-res-gestae-ancyra-heading-0014/) (Roman Empire · 0014 · Card stacking, Glittering generalities)
- [Bronze sestertius of Trajan, reverse S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI, S C, the emperor on horseback riding down an enemy](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-trajan-optimo-principi-0103/) (Roman Empire · 0103 · Testimonial, Glittering generalities)
- [Gold solidus of Constantine I, reverse RESTITVTORI LIBERTATIS](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-constantine-i-restitutori-libertatis-0313/) (Roman Empire · 0313 · Glittering generalities)
- [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (Byzantine Empire · 0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [The Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I (Royal Museums Greenwich version), oil on panel](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/armada-portrait-elizabeth-i-greenwich-1588/) (England · 1588 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Medal of Elizabeth I: portrait in a ruff, reverse an ark on stormy waves with SAEVAS TRANQVILLA PER VNDAS (18th-century aftercast of a 1588 model)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/elizabeth-i-ark-medal-aftercast-1588/) (England · 1588 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (Dutch Republic · 1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)