Another very famous slogan born in the Second World War, this series of posters and propaganda was launched by the Ministry of Information in early 1940. This aimed to discourage people from openly discussing any subjects deemed to be ‘of military importance’ or that could in any way aid the enemy if overheard and passed on.
Playing on the fact that people feared strongly the threat of invasion, many of the of the scenes in the early posters, depicted by Punch cartoonist Kenneth Bird, are everyday situations such as sitting on the bus. This stressed the importance of the fact that you didn’t know who your enemy was and if they may be listening, in the hope that it would scare people into being more vigilant. The posters also aimed to put a stop to any gossip or rumours that may have diminished the morale of the British public.
However, despite the slogan being well known to this day, its effectiveness at the time was slightly limited. The posters were often comical scenes, like the well known cartoon of Hitler and Mussolini listening in on the bus, and so their message was not always received as seriously as it may have been. Nevertheless, the slogan sparked a huge chain of posters along its theme, aiming to target different audiences and allowing the words to live on.
Discovering WW2 Propaganda 