{"product_id":"somebody-talked-canada-ww2-propaganda-1940s","title":"Somebody Talked 1940s | Canada WW2 Propaganda Poster","description":"\u003cp\u003eA merchant vessel burns on a near-black sea. The explosion rises in crimson and orange flame, a vast column of smoke towers through the upper composition, and across it, in hand-lettered cream cursive set at a diagonal: 'Somebody talked!' Below, a cream band carries the campaign title in heavy teal-green block letters: THE WALLS HAVE EARS. The visual sequence is direct and the message deliberate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIssued by the Wartime Information Board in Ottawa and printed in Canada, the design credits the Walls Have Ears Organization, a British careless-talk security campaign adapted by the Canadian government from the summer of 1940 onward. This is catalogue number AG-20 in the numbered WIB series. The campaign appeared alongside related variants AG-18 and AG-19, distributed to schools, railway stations, factories, and government offices across Canada to warn civilians and workers against discussing ship movements and sensitive wartime information in public settings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe approach here is sharply different from the wit of Fougasse's British 'Careless Talk Costs Lives' cartoons: where Fougasse used humour, the Canadian poster uses consequence. The sinking ship is not implied, it is shown, burning, in the dark. The two-register typography, combining informal cursive script with heavy slab display lettering, reflects the North American wartime vernacular of the period, bridging the illustrated and the declarative in a single composition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReproduced on 200gsm Enhanced Matte Fine Art Paper using archival pigment inks. A document of Canadian home-front graphic communication at its most direct.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Vintage Poster Archives","offers":[{"title":"A4","offer_id":64406558933369,"sku":"VPA-13890-A4","price":19.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3","offer_id":64406558966137,"sku":"VPA-13890-A3","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A2","offer_id":64406558998905,"sku":"VPA-13890-A2","price":34.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"50x70cm","offer_id":64406559031673,"sku":"VPA-13890-50x70cm","price":39.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A1","offer_id":64406559064441,"sku":"VPA-13890-A1","price":44.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"70x100cm","offer_id":64406559097209,"sku":"VPA-13890-70x100cm","price":59.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A0","offer_id":64406559129977,"sku":"VPA-13890-A0","price":69.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0994\/1139\/4937\/files\/Propaganda-Military-SomebodyTalked-WallsHaveEars-Canada-1940s__VPA-13890.jpg?v=1787993566","url":"https:\/\/vintageposterarchives.com\/products\/somebody-talked-canada-ww2-propaganda-1940s","provider":"Vintage Poster Archives","version":"1.0","type":"link"}