You Never Know Who’s Listening: Careless Talk Costs Lives
subject: World War, 1939-1945--Propaganda World War, 1939-1945--Great Britain Careless Talk Costs Lives British Home Front Wartime security
description: This British World War II propaganda poster shows two women talking on a bus while Heinrich Himmler and Hermann Göring sit behind them and secretly listen. The text says, “You never know who’s listening! Careless Talk Costs Lives.” The poster was part of Britain’s wartime security propaganda campaign. It warned civilians not to talk openly about military or wartime information because enemy spies might be listening. This source is useful for my topic because it shows how propaganda was used to control everyday civilian behavior, protect wartime secrets, and support the British home front.
creator: Bird, Cyril Kenneth, also known as Fougasse
source: You Never Know Who’s Listening: Careless Talk Costs Lives. Imperial War Museums, Art.IWM PST 0142. Poster produced in Great Britain during the Second World War. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/9810
publisher: Ministry of Information
date: 1942
contributor: Imperial War Museums
rights: Imperial War Museums allows low-resolution images to be downloaded or embedded for private, educational, and non-commercial use
relation: Part of the Imperial War Museums poster collection. Related to the Careless Talk Costs Lives propaganda campaign and the British Home Front, 1939-1945.
format: Poster; photolithograph on paper. Support: height 320 mm, width 203 mm.
language: English
type: Still Image
identifier: Art.IWM PST 0142
coverage: Great Britain; Second World War; 1942; British Home Front