Careless talk costs lives: "Don't forget that walls have ears!"

British Second World War cautionary poster depicts two women having tea. The wallpaper is a repeat pattern of Adolf Hitler's head. This one of a series of 'careless talk costs lives' posters by Cyril Kenneth Bird (1887-1965). Bird, who was a Punch cartoonist, took on the 'Fougasse' pseudonym in the First World War, after the French term for a small land mine 'which might or might not hit the mark'. Fougasse's 'careless talk costs lives' campaign was stunningly successful in the Second World War. His approach to the propaganda poster was based on overcoming three obstacles. He wrote:

'Firstly, a general aversion to reading any notice of any sort; secondly, a general disinclination to believe that any notice, even if it was read, can possibly be addressed to oneself; thirdly, a general unwillingness even so to remember the message long enough to do anything about it.'
It was first published in February 1940 as a series of different designs relating to 'careless talk'.
In overcoming these obstacles, Fougasse used a simple approach: humour, simple stylisation and the uncomplicated communication of messages.


This item has been digitised with funding provided by Commonwealth Government.