Keep Calm and Carry On
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See: http://ww2poster.co.uk/2011/01/keep-calm-and-carry-on-a-re-sounding-message/
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Keep Calm and Carry On
- 1. Keep Calm and Carry On: A Re-Sounding Message Dr Bex Lewis The Second World War, Popular Culture and Cultural Memory 13 th July 2011 http://ww2poster.co.uk
- 3. Simon Edge, âSign of the Timesâ, Daily Express , Thursday March 19, 2009, p36
- 4. Â
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- 12. BritishnessâŠ
- 13. What can you buy? https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150159936105685.293432.180104880684
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- 16. IWM
- 17. IWM (Postcards for sale)
- 18. The poster that started it allâŠ
- 19. Â
- 20. Celebrity
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- 33. Thank you for your time⊠QUESTIONS?
Editor's Notes
- ABSTRACT: In 2000 a poster was âdiscoveredâ in the bottom of a box of books, bought at auction by a book-seller in Alnwick. The poster, designed by the Ministry of Information (MOI) in 1939, was intended to be posted in the event of a major crisis, such as invasion. It was (probably) distributed around the country in the same way that other posters were â to post offices, train stations, etc. Two other posters in the series âYour Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution will bring Us Victoryâ and âFreedom is in Peril, Defend it with all your Mightâ were posted widely. But as Britain was never invaded, âKeep Calm and Carry Onâ was never used. Until nowâŠ! The poster has had a resurgence, particularly since November 2008, when the credit crunch really hit, with many using it as a mantra to get through their daily lives. Catching the mood of the nation it has been widely distributed, copied onto mugs, T shirts and student walls, and the message subverted in multiple ways. The MOI, officially formed at the outbreak of the Second World War, was the central governmental publicity machine. Its role was to tell the citizen âclearly and swiftly what he is to do, where he is to do it, how he is to do it and what he should not doâ. Their messages, which tapped into a sense of what it was to be British during the war, have continued to sell as items of nostalgia, and come to the forefront again during the current financial crisis. This paper considers recent uses, including âMake do and Mendâ in times of austerity, âCoughs and Sneezes Spread Diseasesâ for Swine Flu, and, most recently, the Green Partyâs environmental âNew Home Frontâ competition, and what that indicates with regards to an underlying sense of âBritishnessâ. Immediately see here a range of images â so where did this phenomenon come from?!
- Hereâs the commonly cited origins of the poster, that it was âdiscoveredâ in 2001 in the box in a bookshop in Alnwick, and certainly believe that this is when the poster received itâs fame⊠[That process began with a fluke: in 2000, Stuart and Mary Manley, owners of a shop called Barter Books in north England, found one of the original posters folded up in the bottom of a box of old books and framed it. Customers liked it, and eventually the Manleys decided to sell reproductions. âPart of it is that it does have this sort of intrinsic British feel about it,â Mary Manley says, adding that the poster evokes a ânostalgia for a certain British character, an outlook.â ] NYT
- This was what alerted me to the face that this story had got so huge⊠a journalist left a message that he wanted to run the story⊠then ran it from my thesis⊠â For many the wartime slogans, such as Dig for Victory, Careless Talk Costs Lives, and Coughs and Sneezes Spread Diseases, have never been forgotten. Such slogans have been passed on as a part of our common heritage,â says Dr Rebecca Lewis, a historian who has made a study of the subject. âPosters that were not published or were withdrawn also make for interesting study, particularly for reasons as to why they were rejected,â she adds. âHowever, there do not seem to be many examples of these, although whether this is because records of unsuccessful designs were not kept or because there were not many was not established.â
- This got me thinking⊠I had materials from my thesis on a website, but now we were into the age of the blog, so this was something I could blog about/add to the conversation on ⊠Iâm a historian of communication, I can join in this debate⊠so I started blogging, and started to get traffic quite quickly ⊠this was March/April 2009âŠ
- I had written in all 3 extensive pieces of work about the Your Courage poster, The poster was third in a series of three. The previous two posters from the series, " Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution Will Bring Us Victory" (800,000 printed) and "Freedom is in Peril" (400,000 printed) were issued 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. Planning for the posters started in April 1939; by June designs were prepared, and by August 1939, they were on their way to the printers, to be placed up within 24 hours of the outbreak of war. The posters were designed to have a uniform device, be a design associated with the Ministry of Information, and have a unique and recognisable lettering, with a message from the King to his people. The slogans were created by civil servants, with Waterfield coming 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". These particular posters were designed as "a statement of the duty of the individual citizen", un-pictorial, to be accompanied by more colloquial designs. The "Your Courage" poster was much more famous during the war, as it was the first to go up, very large, and was the first of the Ministry of Information's posters. [4] The press, fearful of censorship, created a backlash, and thus a lot of material related to these posters has been kept by archives . (Wikipedia, my contribution). Your Courage â people couldnât remember the slogan, even after walking past multiple times⊠(criticism of the other) ⊠these were the 2 that appeared, and have been talked about extensively⊠now replaced by KCCO
- But even by the time Iâd wised up to it (I was job-huntingâŠ!) âeveryone knew everythingâ Wikipedia sharing information ⊠took 4 goes to get my information on there, and had to dive around and find some new information which wasnât yet in the public sphere⊠sends some of the most traffic to my site, as people are so interested, and Wikipedia of course fount of all informationâŠ
- All material for the Home Front was produced by the Ministry of Information, in planning from 1935, but not formed until war officially declared. In the First World War, propaganda material had been produced by a diverse group of bodies, but the formation of a Ministry of Information in 1918, and growing professionalism in the advertising and PR industries in the inter-war era, ensured that this was deemed the right path for the Second World War, and itâs remit was to Tell the citizen âclearly and swiftly what he is to do, where he is to do it, how he is to do it and what he should not doâ. As this poster indicates, it didnât have as much power as anticipated, with other departments continuing to produce their own materialâŠ. In June 1940, a response collected by Mass Observation (an innovative anthropological survey company formed in 1938) indicated: FR193: If our leaders cannot control and obtain an efficient reply for rations, how can they control or obtain a satisfactory response in times of death and misery, a response of the heart and nerves? Yet this more ephemeral morale response is the most important of all. Peopleâs readiness to volunteer or co-operate, evacuate or spend something extra on sand, is only a small facet of their whole mental attitude to the war and its worthwhileness. Everything that happens on the Home Front is an indication of the state of morale, and it is impossible to separate the problem [p11] of morale from problems of A.R.P. efficiency or munitions production, anti-waste or spreading rumour. No attempt to deal with these things piecemeal in an ad hoc way, can possibly deal with the problems for long. Only a total administrative and executive attitude to morale can make the Home Front worth 100%. And only a 100% Home Front can successfully weather the coming impacts of total war.
- We were in total war⊠the government was looking for âactiveâ citizenship, self-regulation, democratic, not driven by the overt force behind the totalitarain states⊠In the 1930s Aldous Huxley recognised that propaganda âcanalises an already existing streamâ; it is only effective on those already in tune with the ideas expressed. Propaganda encourages its audience further along the direction that they are already moving, and reinforces partly formed ideasâŠ
- What DOES make âpeople love and dies for nations, as well as hate and kill in their nameâ. Benedict Anderson offered the notion of âimagined communitiesâ. Anderson indicated that citizens are likely to work together in âimagined communitiesâ, â imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, of even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion.â Anderson examines how tradition is constructed, invented and appropriated, often through symbolism based on false tradition. So what about these posters, designed for a British audience in 1939?
- What still resonates? Is this about 1939? No, the poster was never used then â kept for Blitz, by time Blitz arrived, wasnât used â probably because recognised need for âThe Peopleâs Warâ â not about the Monarchy ârulingâ⊠Itâs very much about the 21 st Century and the time of crisis we are in ⊠the poster was âdiscoveredâ in 2001, but really took off towards the end of 2008 â around the time I returned from global travels ⊠realising that Iâd returned, with no job, no savings, to a time of recession⊠the slogan definitely resonated with meâŠ
- As a slight side step⊠itâs interesting to note that the slogan made a reappearance at the Royal Wedding earlier this year⊠a slogan that had been intended to appeal to those who âvaluedâ Royalty is subverted for those who had no care for the wedding but were grateful for a free day offâŠ
- Back to Keep Calm and Carry On⊠â It helped enhance the feeling of stoicism then, but is speaking to a new generation suffering from stress and anxiety in a fast- paced world enduring an economic crisis, job uncertainty and environmental problems.â http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/around-yorkshire/local-stories/make_do_and_mend_message_for_21st_century_1_2362183 Who recognises these wellies? Noticeably, Cath Kidston (and similar stores), with her English Country house style has been incredibly successful⊠rose-tinted as it may be⊠Is nostalgia a retreat to the past in the face of current difficulties â the recessionâŠ? Chase and Shaw defined three prerequisites for the presence of nostalgia in a society: a linear and secular view of time and history (as in Western societies); a sense that the present is deficient; and the presence of items from the past ⊠those are all here⊠[http://ww2poster.co.uk/2000/05/public-history-now/]
- a sense that the present is deficient; and the presence of items from the past We know that weâre in a recession, times are hard for many (at least compared to recent yearsâŠ) These items appeared at the right time⊠and look at the variety of stuff that you can buyâŠ.
- Some of the variations on the slogan⊠the subversions, the humour, the inspiration that people are drawing into this materialâŠ
- This diagram is intended to show the development of the âinternet memeâ ⊠some interesting topics â the 2 that are quoted most often are âGet Excited and Make Thingsâ (a response by Matt Jones - to what was seen as British Fatalism) and âPanic and Freak OutââŠ
- If you visit the Imperial War Museum, you find the 3 posters together (in a way they wouldnât have been at the time), completely de-contextualised ⊠no mention that KCCO was not used â do they assume that we all know (they get a lot of international visitors)⊠orâŠ
- Hereâs the multitude of postcards you can purchase at the IWM ⊠and this is where it all started for me ⊠a postcard from IWM ⊠somewhere in here will be âYour Country Needs Youâ which is the one most people used to mention to me ⊠now itâs KCCO! It wasnât that postcardâŠ
- But this poster⊠still on display earlier this year⊠caught my eye, made me wonder if it would have attracted the attention of others⊠Without this first interest, thereâd be no research, no backstory⊠would it have made a difference? Weâll have a quick look at some of the posters that have been of interest in recent years, and thereâs a relevant message/backstory in all, but first, back to KCCO and itâs continued growthâŠ
- This paper given at an e-learning conference, to encourage academics to be prepared for remote teaching ⊠as those in the war were to be prepared for invasion, got a lot of people talking about the title of the talk, and how they knew of the posterâŠ.
- ⊠as number of celebrity wearers, from all sides of the spectrum, gave celeb clout to the slogan. Govt ministers tended not to be photographed with theirs, but it was rumoured that Gordon Brown had it in his office, and Ben Bradshaw, Minister for Culture & Sport, definitely did!
- The Stereophonics had seen the poster, thought it was âa good piece of adviceâ ⊠summing up their life â named their album after it, and that brought even more attention⊠â Whatâs the best piece of advice youâve ever been given?  Thereâs a poster that somebody bought the other day which said âkeep calm and carry onâ. Thatâs a bit of good advice, especially for us. That sums up our life.â
- The Americans quickly picked up on the phenomenon, and started to produce their own designs â this one was seen in a window in San FranciscoâŠ. All that symbolism of British stiff upper lip and keeping calm in a crisis ⊠it makes sense to those in the States?! The story was picked up by the New York Times where I noted that even those attracted to the posterâs past may be more revisionist than they realize. âPeople talk about it â Americans in particular Iâm afraid â being the poster that kept the British going through the warâ ⊠whatever the âtruthâ, I gained over 12,000 visitors to the site per month for 6 months + after that story ranâŠ
- If you fancy a go yourself, try this site!
- Thatâs what Linda Baker did for âInside Out North Eastâ (a story claimed by the North East because of where the poster was âfoundâ), some terrible slogan that Iâve already forgotten, but we had a long conversation about it in the middle of the Imperial War Museum⊠So you see weâre back in the Imperial War Museum again⊠our story keeps returning there, so letâs continue with our look as a few more posters that can be found there but have gained a new resonance in the last few yearsâŠ
- Weâve grown used to a consumerist throw-away society, but that nostalgic fear, alongside environmental concerns have raised the cause of âmake do and mendâ âŠ. Advertiserâs Weekly, 4th April 1944, p.154 notes⊠ W.S.Crawford, Ltd invented the figure in order to humanise the âmake-do-and-mendâ campaign. Made first appearance in the press on May 15, and will feature in forthcoming displays and posters. âMrs Sew-and-Sew is a pleasant figure, rather like a ventriloquistâs dummy, with a cherubic smile. A wooden figure of her will be placed at the door of advice centres, inviting people to come in, and she will also appear in window displays and exhibitions. Copy for the first advert describes her as a âdesigning womanâ. The campaign will then invite women to identify themselves with her domestic habits, and to follow her example in overcoming household difficulties.âÂ
- As part of their âTop Tips for Tough Timesâ (http://www.iwm.org.uk/server/show/nav.24028), the IWM resurrected Mrs SewandSew in 2009 ⊠The blog said: Hello mâ dears! Mrs Sew&Sew here, reporting from the home front in 1943! The nice people at the Imperial War Museum  (yes, itâs even around in our day) have given me a special typewriter, so I can send you telegrams from here. Donât worry, weâve set it up so your replies get sent through to me as well, so feel free to have a chat!âŠ. Iâve heard thereâs some kind of problem with the banks in 2009, so maybe some of these ideas will come in handy there too. Do let me know if you have any great ideas I can pass onto my neighbours. Or even if theyâre not relevant in my time, let me know anyway, and Iâll pass them back to all the lovely people in your time.â
- In the twenties and thirties Bateman made his name through The Tatler, The Sketch and The Bystander, specialising in the depiction of angry outrage caused by anti-social or unthinking behaviour: âHis cartoons, typified in The Man Who⊠series, depict with frenzied exaggeration the uproar caused by social bloomers.â That character appeared in this campaign⊠gentle use of humour works on the basis that those in the culture viewing this will find a visual shorthand which makes the images meaningful⊠This slogan from a 1942 British government poster was aimed at reducing absenteeism from serious war work, but it caught on, and encouraged more hygienic habits in the population as a whole.
- Unfortunately the character doesnât appear here â more serious, but was even debate in 1940s as to whether it was appropriate to be âfunnyâ about such serious subjects⊠â No surprise then, to find it revived to combat the latest threats from various kinds of flu and the norovirus with added instructions about binning tissues, then washing hands thoroughly.â With regular leisure travel not surprising to see it as a growing âproblemâ.
- These are some of the most famous posters from the war, still famous, still sell, where Fougasse accurately illustrated âhuman natureâ, enabling âevery viewer to identify with the charactersâ ⊠in places/situations familiar to the British publicâŠ
- This was reused a couple of years ago in an attempt to deal with the new âmoral menaceâ of using the mobile whilst driving⊠Still works?!
- So, to finish, to note a competition still ongoing⊠specifically looking for a re-imagining of wartime slogans to help promote the message/changing behaviour (as we say in blogging â looking for a âcall to actionâ, not just a âthatâs interestingâ âŠ) ⊠regarding climate change⊠up for it?
- So, I think we can see that although KCCO is the biggest, the general tone of nostalgia has allowed a re-imagining of many wartime poster designs. Thanks for listening⊠Questions?