Is the rather sickening familiarity of the phrase ‘Keep calm and carry on’ getting to you? You are probably visualising the poster in your head right now. Quirky throwback to British stiff upper lip, or a misunderstood and sinister reminder of the threat of war, hijacked by the man?
It’s origins, as you may have guessed, come from the Second World War, where it was commissioned by the British Government as propaganda to ‘keep spirits up’, or a vain hope that some stirring message of unity might just hold to the country together after a relentless barrage of destruction that was the Blitz.
So Nearly Forgotten
One of three designs, Keep calm and carry on was printed over 2.5 million times. The poster though, was never used. It was held in reserve in case of times of extreme peril, i.e an invasion. The poster was discovered 50 years later in the year 2000 in a second hand book shop and adopted by a generation. What was an old poster, framed because a book shop owner liked it, soon gained popularity.
Back in the war years, the design was commissioned to have a ‘special and handsome typeface’, one that would be hard for the Germans to counterfeit, which is now, ironically, one of the most reproduced posters in the UK. The qualities that once made it a choice to deliver a message to the nation; clarity, colour and design, now make it instantly recognisable.
The first reproductions of the posters that were available online to a widespread audience appeared in 2007 on the website www.KeepCalmAndCarryOn.com with the popular t-shirt website threadless being one of the first places to parody the phrase with their ‘Now Panic and Freak Out’ range of t-shirts. A rather obvious spoof, but at least it was original.
It is now an epithet that adorns everything from greetings cards to tea towels. But why the hell should we keep calm? When a government tells me to keep calm and carry on, that’s normally a sure sign that I should be panic buying something.
NO-ONE PANIC! STOP PANICKING!
Today, we are told on an almost daily basis to keep calm. We are told to keep calm when we run low on petrol, we are told to keep calm when the type of rain that we experience is not the ‘right rain’ to fill up the reservoirs.
The intended purpose was to quell fears of an altogether more sinister nature. Maybe in context the message could be interpreted, ‘Keep calm, we could be invaded, you might die, your family might die, please don’t start looting or doing anything irrational”.
Meanwhile, across the pond…
America had some altogether more practical advice for citizens, “we can do it!”, and “sow the seeds of victory!”
Simple, direct, evocative. In a time of need, you a citizen of America are needed to fight for your country. You can make a difference to the war effort. WE CAN DO THIS TOGETHER.
On the contrary, the British slogan “keep calm and carry on” is more of a gentle reminder, so polite that even if we did need help, we’d probably refuse out of habit.
Do you need any help there Britain? Can I do anything for you?
Umm, no I think I’m good actually, probably best if you just sit tight for the moment. What are you up to at the moment? Yeah, that seems to be working, keep calm, and carry on doing what you are doing really.
People say that the poster has a resonance in the modern world, that people can relate to its message. For me, its probably the most non-committal piece of propaganda that the world has ever seen! I sure can relate to that.
Images: pamlau
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