Watch Your Talk for His Sake
A photograph shot from below shows a lookout in oilskins shading his eyes in a ship's crow's nest against a cloudy sky. The red headline and the instruction not to mention arrivals, sailings or cargoes tie careless talk to the safety of one exposed man, which is the fear-appeal tell; the danger is implied by the picture, not stated.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- H.M. Stationery Office (British government); printer 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
- Security and surveillance, War and the military
- 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)
H.M. Stationery Office (British government), Great Britain, 1939-1945. U.S. National Archives, Record Group 44.
Text on the object
WATCH YOUR TALK FOR HIS SAKE Never mention arrivals, sailings, cargoes, or destinations to anybody. PRINTED FOR H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE BY LOWE & BRYDONE PRINTERS LTD., LONDON, N.W.10. 51-[illegible]
