Keep calm and carry on ww26/19/2023 The overall poster publicity campaign was deemed a complete failure as many people never saw the posters, and others felt patronized by them when they did. The posters never really saw the light of day and were instead destroyed and reduced to pulp in 1940. The other posters were displayed instead, and the “Keep Calm” posters were put into storage. One read, “Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution Will Bring Us Victory,” and the other read, “Freedom is in Peril, Defend It With All Your Might.” The third poster of the series, and the most popular today, was the one that said, “Keep Calm and Carry On.”Ībout 2.5 million copies of the “Keep Calm” poster were printed in 1939, but it had been decided that this particular poster would be displayed only after any dangerous air raids or an invasion. The first two posters didn’t have the “Keep Calm” statement, however. The posters featured the royal crown of King George VI, and all had a similar style. They were produced by the Ministry of Information of the British government to be used as motivational, morale-boosting posters as the country prepared for World War II and the threat of air attacks on the country’s major cities. The “Keep Calm” poster was actually one of three posters that originated in 1939. What is the history behind this iconic statement, and how did it become so popular? If you don’t know how it came to be, keep calm, you soon will. His Careless Talk Costs Lives series of posters are amongst the most famous of the propaganda campaigns of the Second World War.We’ve all seen these images plastered everywhere on the web, on t-shirts, and posters with the words “Keep Calm” emblazoned on them. He worked unpaid for the Ministry of Information during the war, producing cartoons with a short word of advise. Picture editor of Punch from 1937-1949, then editor until 1953, he noted that the best sort of advertising would make people smile. They hung it up in their shop and started producing reproductions, and the poster has become an internationally recognised image, reproduced on mugs, t-shirts, and adapted into such uplifting slogans as “Keep Calm and Drink Tea”.Ī much more successful series of propaganda was created by ‘Fougasse’ – Cyril Bird. However, in 2000, the owner of Barter Books in Alnwick discovered a copy of the poster in the bottom of a box of books. Owing to the shortage of raw materials, the paper was recycled and there the story should have ended. As the invasion never happened, Hitler’s armies being otherwise occupied elsewhere in the world, and the Spitfire achieving victory in the Battle of Britain, the Keep Calm posters were never used. In the event the poster campaign was not a great success, with the people regarding it as an instruction from the powers-that-be that it was the people, not the leaders, who were going to be the ones doing the hard work. The fourth poster – “Keep Calm and Carry On” – was distributed, but was to be held back and only used in the event of invasion. Bearing a crown at the top these posters were clearly intended to be a message from the King: “Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution, Will Bring Us Victory” was displayed widely, with hundreds of thousands being printed similarly “Freedom is in Peril Defend it with all Your Might” and “Don’t help the enemy! Careless Talk May Give Away Vital Secrets”. In 1939, with invasion an ever-present threat, HM Government commissioned four posters with snippets designed to encourage the population. The story of the poster is well known these days, but bears repeating. As they were never used, the survivors are incredibly rare. Once it became obvious that they were not going to invade, these posters were sent back for recycling. An instantly-recognisable brand today, this poster was reserved for use in the event of the German invasion.
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