The Telephone Service is Busy - Very Busy!
A red poster with a scalloped white border and the GPO crown emblem asking the public to avoid sending telegrams after 7 p.m., 'especially by telephone', with a banner 'The Telephone Service is busy - very busy!'. It is chiefly an instruction; the only persuasive device is the official GPO emblem lending the request authority (transfer), with no threat or claim attached.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- General Post Office (GPO); printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Fosh & Cross 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
- 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
- Held by NARA, Unrestricted; British wartime print, hosted by owner decision
General Post Office (GPO); printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Fosh & Cross Ltd., London. National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-89.
Text on the object
[GPO emblem] Avoid sending, if you can, telegrams after 7 p.m., especially by telephone. THE TELEPHONE SERVICE IS BUSY-VERY BUSY! [imprint:] Printed for H.M. Stationery Office by Fosh & Cross Ltd., London. 51-3630 P.R.D. 300
