Use Your Eyes and Ears! Prevent Fire & Wrecking by Fifth Columnists in the Port & Docks
A text poster with a drawn eye and ear tells port and dock workers to prevent fire and wrecking by 'fifth columnists' and to report suspicious persons and things at once. The tell for fear-appeal is the staged threat of sabotage paired with one prescribed remedy, reporting; the tell for name-calling is 'fifth columnists', a label applied to unnamed persons with no stated evidence or criteria.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- London Port Emergency Committee (printed at the Doulton Press, 73 Minories, London E.C.3)
- Region
- Western and Central Europe
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Mixed
- Regime
- Churchill Government
- Leader
- Winston Churchill
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Security and surveillance, Labor, Home front
- 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; hosted by owner decision
London Port Emergency Committee (printed at the Doulton Press), National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-493.
Text on the object
USE YOUR EYES AND EARS! PREVENT FIRE & WRECKING BY FIFTH COLUMNISTS IN THE PORT & DOCKS Report suspicious persons & things AT ONCE [imprint:] ISSUED BY LONDON PORT EMERGENCY COMMITTEE, AND PRINTED AT THE DOULTON PRESS, 73, MINORIES, LONDON, E.C.3.
