Forensic Research Archive of Manipulation and Exploitation
Telephone Line Time is Precious - Keep Your Talks Short, 1942 UK poster: Two black telegraph-pole insulators with red lines

Telephone Line Time is Precious - Keep Your Talks Short

Two black telegraph-pole insulators with red lines cutting across them stand against grey cloud shapes beneath the headline. The slogan 'Keep Your Talks Short' asks callers to ration a shared resource; the only link to the war effort is implied by the poster's origin, with no stated reason.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Transfer
Date
1942
Period
Second World War
Made by
His Majesty's Stationery Office for the General Post Office (GPO); artist Pat Keely; printed by Haycock Press, 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
Theme
Home front
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)
His Majesty's Stationery Office / General Post Office; artist Pat Keely; printer Haycock Press. US National Archives, WWII Foreign Posters (NAID 44267135, 44-PF-418b).

Text on the object

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

Telephone line
time is precious

Keep Your Talks Short

Pat Keely '42

PRINTED FOR H.M.STATIONERY OFFICE BY HAYCOCK PRESS, LONDON. 51-3197
P.R.D. 285.

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