Forensic Research Archive of Manipulation and Exploitation
Telephone Line Time is Precious - Keep Your Talks Short, 1939 UK poster: Long banner type reads 'Telephone line time

Telephone Line Time is Precious - Keep Your Talks Short

Long banner type reads 'Telephone line time is precious - keep your talks short', with red lines running across a pale-blue map of Britain and the word 'precious' reversed out in white. The map ties a request about phone calls to the country as a whole, transferring national stakes onto a small daily habit (transfer).

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Transfer
Date
1939
Period
Second World War
Made by
General Post Office (GPO) for His Majesty's Stationery Office; printer Johnson, Riddle & Co. 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
Mobilize or secure compliance
Themes
Home front, Science and technology
Event
World War II
Regime
Churchill wartime government
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)
General Post Office / His Majesty's Stationery Office; printed by Johnson, Riddle & Co. Ltd., London, c. 1939-1945. US National Archives (NARA ID 44267133, 44-PF-418a).

Text on the object

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

Telephone
line time is precious
keep your talks short

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