The notorious Keep Calm and Carry On posters, which were once historical propaganda, are now the most annoying spectacle of my day to day life. Obviously, from the evidence that surrounds us, some people will love them and others, like me, have grown weary of the overused, banal poster. We will all have seen them at some point, once today is highly likely. They seem to be everywhere we turn; in bedrooms, offices, and shops. Not only have they been applied to hundreds of day to day items such as; coffee mugs, clocks and tea towels, to name a few from a huge list! The five, once motivational words, have been changed over and over almost to a point of exhaustion. I'm not trying to argue that the posters are a bad concept, they were once a great idea and quite comical. But surely now everyone must be just fed up of seeing them? I for one am also annoyed about how the poster has been completely taken out of context and that not many people know about the original posters origin. It has become a household sight present in almost every home.
The poster was initially created by the Ministry of Information during the beginning of World War Two in 1939, intended to raise morale of the British public in the event of wartime disaster. Although two and a half million copies of the poster were printed they were not distributed well so the poster was not well known to the public, until recently. In 2000 the poster was rediscovered in Barter Books, a second-hand bookshop in Alnwick by the owners Mary and Stuart Manley. Since Crown Copyright expires on artistic works created by the UK government after 50 years, the image was in the public domain. This allowed the bookworm couple to reprint the wartime poster at the request of numerous customers. This eventually inspired numerous companies to regurgitate the design over and over, turning it in to a decorative range of products which we are now surrounded by. There are only two original posters that remain outside of the government archives after the others were supposedly pupled, the two surviving copies are displayed in the Imperial War Museum in London.
Another thing that a lot of people may not know is that the poster was the third out of a series of three stimulating slogans. The other two posters from the series, "Freedom Is In Peril. Defend It With All Your Might" (400,000 printed) and "Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution Will Bring Us Victory" (800,000 printed) were circulated and used across the country for motivational purposes, as the Ministry of Information assumed that the events of the first weeks of the war would demoralise the population. After hours of research I found that sadly there is no evidence recorded of the civil servant who came up with the three, once inspiring, messages.
As well as the original message being plastered on to almost everything the words have been changed repeatedly. With variations like "Keep Calm and Eat Cake" and "Drink Lots and Pass Out". These were once quite amusing but now they have lost their appeal after so many people have churned out slogan after slogan. Another party guilty of taking the saying away from its origin it Pay Day UK. That's a mixture of two things I hate to see, yet another loan shark advert and another attempt to jump on the band wagon and mask the original message. What is even worse is the fact that they do the saying "Keep Calm and Log On" to death on the televised adverts yet it is nowhere to be seen on their website. This is a great example of an awful campaign used badly, purely because it lacks in originality and has not been applied with continuity.
Although the motivational slogan was produced over sixty years ago, it is obviously still loved by many today. I really cannot stand the fact that so many companies have jumped on the band wagon simply to generate money by printing the design on to as many products as possible. Similar to other logos and slogans such as the Superman 'S', Che Guevara and probably the most well known Milton Glaser's "I heart NY". Again, not many people will know that New York was the city used in the original phrase because, similar to Keep Calm, this slogan has been altered for various merchandising schemes such as "I heart London", "I heart my computer" and closer to home "I heart MCR". This is currently being used throughout the city as a campaign to “show the world that the people of Manchester are proud of their city and united against anti-social behaviour” [1]. Again, t-shirts, key-rings and other items are available with the slogan plastered on to them. It seems that nobody can come up with an original idea anymore. I love to look back at old design but we need to be making new visuals that our generation will be remembered for, not copying and manipulating the work of unsung artists and making money off of it.
Now that I have explained my reasons for hating the remakes and franchise of this World War Two poster I'd like to discuss the original product of MOI. Was it successful in keeping the British population calm? Even though it was not distributed well enough for many people to see it, I personally think the actual design of the poster itself fails to soothe the worries of the nation. For a start the colour is not the best choice. Although it was used to alert the nation and motivate them to stay as calm as possible. I feel the use of red does not convey a message of peace and order, more panic and dispute. Red, although associated with passion, is most commonly known to signal danger which is the complete opposite of what the Ministry of Information had set out to communicate. I personally think when the MOI produced this poster they should have chosen a more soothing colour, maybe blue because it is known for it's calming qualities. Or even the colour purple would have been a better choice, it is still a cool colour therefore it is still a serene colour however it also represents the royal family. This could be motivation for the people of England to "Keep Calm and Carry On" and nothing else!
Bibliography
1.Marketing Manchester. (2011). I Love MCR. Available: http://www.visitmanchester.com/articles/whats-on/i-love-mcr.aspx. Last accessed 20th February 2012
Images
Dr Rebecca Lewis. (2011). Recent Find. Available: http://ww2poster.co.uk/2011/05/recent-find-enough-with-these-posters-already/. Last accessed 18th February 2012.
Iain Hollingshead. (2011). Keep Calm and Carry On poster is causing a storm.. Available: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/world-war-2/8794171/Keep-Calm-and-Carry-On-poster-is-causing-a-storm.html. Last accessed 18th February 2012.
Paul Kerfoot. (2011). World War II Poster Helps Raise Morale. Available: http://www.bulletpointdesign.co.uk/blog/?p=1607. Last accessed 18th
Jennet Allison. (2011). Carry On. Available: http://pinterest.com/jennetrae/carry-on/. Last accessed 17th February
Pay Day UK Admin. (2011). Pay Day UK launches Keep Calm and Log On. Available: http://www.paydayuk.co.uk/blog/2011/11/16/paydayuk-launches-keep-calm-and-log-on/. Last accessed 19th February 2012.
Lanna chari. (2011). I love Newyork. Available: http://lannachari.com/Products.html. Last accessed 17th February
Jackie Quailie. (2011). Poster Print canvas - Keep calm and carry on- purple version - no paper but museum cotton canvas. Available: http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/artistico/2644135/poster_print_canvas__-_keep_calm_and_carry_on-_purple__version__-_no_paper_but_museum_cotton_canvas/fine_art/collage/prints. Last accessed 19th
Wordcount: 1,076
