Careless Talk: Tensions within British Domestic Propaganda during the Second World War

Abstract

S ome of the most enduring propaganda images and slogans of the Second World War emerged from the so-called careless talk campaigns in Britain. Catchphrases such as “Careless Talk Costs Lives” have entered the common lexicon, while Fougasse’s famous posters of Hitler and Goering eavesdropping on the unwise gossip of two female shoppers have been the subject of numerous pastiches by cartoonists on modern political crises, including the recent conflict in Iraq. The longevity of these phrases and images is explained not just because they were textually and visually striking but also because they were unusual in character. They simultaneously evoke notions of British resilience and sacrifice and an enduring anxiety provoked by the threat of Nazism. This tension stems from the fact that while national wartime propaganda tended to promote a positive, united “world view,” the careless talk initiatives had a quite different impetus. As campaigns concerned with the internal security aims of eliminating opportunities for damaging rumors to spread and with identifying potential “fifth columnists,” these campaigns encouraged a “closing of the ranks” and a suspicion toward others. As such, they ran the risk of disrupting the wartime master narrative of the “People’s War.” The careless talk campaigns have received relatively little scholarly attention. They are barely mentioned in wider studies of Britain during the Second World War. Works that do consider the campaigns either confine them to a specific