Vintage Poster Archives
Loose Lips Sink Ships 1942 | Howard Scott WW2 Propaganda Poster
Loose Lips Sink Ships 1942 | Howard Scott WW2 Propaganda Poster
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A man's face rendered in warm browns against sage green, white tape crossed over his mouth in a stark X. Howard Scott's composition reduces wartime vigilance to one clear visual: silence protects lives.
Designed by Howard Scott in 1942 for the British and American Ambulance Corps, part of the US home front propaganda campaign. Scott, a commercial illustrator known for Heinz and Campbell's Soup advertising, applied his bold poster style to wartime communication. The yellow banner delivers the message with unflinching directness.
This poster belongs to the 'Loose Talk Can Cost Lives' series, alongside similar warnings by Cecil Calvert Beall and others. The crossed-tape motif became one of the defining images of American home front vigilance, appearing in public spaces from factories to train stations.
Archival print from restored digital source. A natural fit for those drawn to wartime graphic design, the visual history of American propaganda, or the intersection of commercial art and national security messaging.
