Keep Calm and Carry On was a motivational poster produced by the British government
in 1939 in preparation for the Second World War. The poster was intended to raise the
morale of the British public in the aftermath of widely predicted mass air attacks on major
cities. Although 2.45 million copies were printed, and although the Blitz happened,
the poster was never publicly displayed and was little known about until a copy was rediscovered
in 2000. It has since been re-issued by a number of private companies, and has been
used as the decorative theme for a range of products.
It was thought that only two original copies survived until a collection of 20 was brought
in to the Antiques Roadshow in 2012 by the daughter of an ex-Royal Observer Corps member.
History Design and production
The Keep Calm and Carry On poster was designed by the Ministry of Information during the
period 27 June-6 July 1939. It was produced as part of a series of three "Home Publicity"
posters. Each poster showed the slogan under a representation of a "Tudor Crown". They
were intended to be distributed in order to strengthen morale in the event of a wartime
disaster, such as mass bombing of major cities using high explosives and poison gas, which
was widely expected within hours of an outbreak of war.
A career civil servant named A.P. Waterfield came up with "Your Courage" as "a rallying
war-cry that will bring out the best in everyone of us and put us in an offensive mood at once".
Detailed planning for the posters had started in April 1939 and the eventual designs were
prepared after meetings between officials from the Ministry of Information and HM Treasury
on 26 June 1939 and between officials from the Ministry of Information and HMSO on 27
June 1939. Roughs of the poster were completed on 6 July 1939 and the final designs were
agreed by the Home Secretary Samuel Hoare, 1st Viscount Templewood on 4 August 1939.
Printing began on 23 August 1939, the day that Nazi Germany and the USSR signed the
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, and the posters were ready to be placed up within 24 hours
of the outbreak of war. Almost 2,500,000 copies of Keep Calm and Carry
On were printed between 23 August 1939 and 3 September 1939 but the poster was not sanctioned
for immediate public display. It was instead decided that copies of the poster should remain
in ‘cold storage’ for use after serious air raids. Copies of Keep Calm and Carry On
were retained until April 1940 but stocks were then pulped as part of the wider Paper
Salvage campaign. The remainder of the Ministry of Information
publicity campaign was cancelled in October 1939 following criticism of its cost and impact.
Many people claimed not to have seen the posters; while those who did see them regarded them
as patronising and divisive. Design historian Susannah Walker regards the campaign as "a
resounding failure", and reflective of a misjudgement by upper-class civil servants of the mood
of the people. Later developments
Later in the war, a leaflet was distributed with a message from Prime Minister Winston
Churchill headed "Beating the Invader". It begins "If invasion comes..." and goes on
to exhort the populace to "Stand Firm" and "Carry On". The two phrases do not appear
in one sentence, but are picked out in an emphatic font. The text identifies them as
the two "great order(s) and dut(ies)" to and for the people, should invasion come. The
leaflet then lists a number of practical measures to be taken.
Rediscovery and commercialisation
In 2000, Stuart Manley, co-owner with his wife Mary of Barter Books Ltd. in Alnwick,
Northumberland, was sorting through a box of used books bought at auction when he uncovered
one of the original "Keep Calm and Carry On" posters. The couple framed it and hung it
up by the cash register; and it attracted so much interest that Manley began to produce
and sell copies. Other companies followed suit, and the design rapidly began to be used
as the theme for a wide range of products. Mary Manley later commented, "I didn't want
it trivialised. But of course now it's been trivialised beyond belief."
In early 2012, Barter Books debuted an informational short, The Story of Keep Calm and Carry On,
providing visual insight into the modernisation and commercialisation of the design and the
phrase. Susannah Walker comments that the poster is
now seen "not only as a distillation of a crucial moment in Britishness, but also as
an inspiring message from the past to the present in a time of crisis". She goes on
to point out, however, that such an interpretation overlooks the circumstances of its production,
and the relative failure of the campaign of which it formed a part.
Trademark claims In August 2011, it was reported a UK-based
company called Keep Calm and Carry On Ltd had registered the slogan as a community trade
mark in the EU, after failing to obtain registration of the slogan as a trademark in the United
Kingdom. They issued a take-down request against a seller of Keep Calm and Carry On products.
Questions have been raised as to whether the registration could be challenged, as the slogan
had been widely used before registration and is not recognisable as indicating trade origin.
An application has been submitted by British intellectual property advisor and UK trademarking
service Trade Mark Direct, to cancel the registration on the grounds that the words are too widely
used for one person to own the exclusive rights but the request for cancellation was rejected
and the trade mark is still protected in all EU countries. The company is now trying to
register the slogan as its trademark in both the United States and Canada.
Contemporary usage
As the popularity of the poster in various media has grown, innumerable parodies, imitations
and co-optations have also appeared, making it a notable meme. Messages range from the
cute to the overtly political, typically with references to other aspects of popular culture
ranging from the royal wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William to the Mario videogames.
Examples have included "Now Panic and Freak Out", "Get Excited and Make Things", "Keep
Calm and Have a Cupcake", "Don’t Panic and Fake a British Accent", "Keep Calm and Hate
Apple", "Keep Calm and Hate Microsoft", "Keep Calm and Switch to Linux" and "Keep Spending
and Carry On Shopping". In March–April 2012 the British pop-rock band McFly undertook
a theatre tour entitled "The Keep Calm and Play Louder Tour", promoted with a poster
closely based on that of 1939. In late 2012 and early 2013, the "Save Lewisham Hospital"
campaign made widespread use of a poster with the slogan "Don't Keep Calm Get Angry and
Save Lewisham A&E". Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi's efforts to encourage
and motivate his citizens in the wake of the 2013 Alberta floods have made his name the
subject of parody "Keep Calm and Nenshi On" fundraising T-shirts.
See also British propaganda during World War II
Don't Panic We Can Do It!, an American World War II poster
that was also rediscovered years later
References
Further reading Clampin, David. ""To Guide, Help and Hearten
Millions": the place of commercial advertising in wartime Britain, 1939–1945". Journal
of Macromarketing 29: 58–73. doi:10.1177/0276146708328054. Inkster, Nigel; Nicoll, Alexander. "Keep Calm
and Carry On". Survival: Global Politics and Strategy 52: 249–256. doi:10.1080/00396331003764777.
Lewis, Bex. "The Renaissance of 'Keep Calm and Carry On'". The Poster 2: 7–23. doi:10.1386/post.2.1.7_1.
Walker, Susannah. Home Front Posters of the Second World War. Oxford: Shire. ISBN 9780747811428.
External links Photographs displaying examples of the poster's
popularity, as printed in The Guardian Photo of the original poster on the Barter
Books website First person: 'I am the Keep Calm and Carry
On man' Dr Bex Lewis, Original history of the poster,
and blog tracing its 21st Century renaissance Video explaining the basic history of the
poster