Thread by @docrussjackson

#THREAD

Keep Calm & Carry On was part of a motivational poster campaign designed by the Ministry of Information in 1939. Intended to raise the morale of the British public, the campaign was cancelled following criticism: people regarded the message as 'patronising & divisive'.👇

https://twitter.com/bo66ie29/status/1457059374434750464

2.5million copies were printed but only a handful ever appeared in public. In 1940 stocks were pulped. Design historian Susannah Walker regards the Keep Calm campaign as "a resounding failure" & reflective of a misjudgement by upper-class civil servants of the mood of the people.

'Keep Calm & Carry On' is evocative of the antiquated & largely mythical upper class Victorian belief in long departed British stoicism – the "stiff upper lip", self-discipline, fortitude, & remaining calm in adversity – a cliché of British sensibility.

Then, in 2000, a co-owner of Barter Books in Alnwick, was sorting through a box of second-hand books bought at auction when he uncovered an original poster.

It was framed & hung up by the cash register, & it attracted so much interest that they began to produce & sell copies.

In early 2012, Stuart & Mary Manley of Barter Books debuted an informational short film, 'The Story of Keep Calm and Carry On', providing visual insight into the modernisation and commercialisation of the design and the phrase.

In late 2005, a Guardian journalist featured the replica posters as a Christmas gift suggestion, raising their profile further.

It was thought that only two original copies survived until a collection of 15 was brought in to the Antiques Roadshow in 2012.
huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/antiques…

In August 2011, it was reported that a UK-based company called 'Keep Calm and Carry On' Ltd had registered the slogan as a community trade mark in the EU & USA, after failing to obtain its registration as a trademark in the United Kingdom.

The company issued a take-down request against a seller of Keep Calm & Carry On products, but their right to claim the trademark was questioned, as the slogan was used before registration & was not recognisable as indicating trade origin.

bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-150…

An application was submitted to cancel the registration on the grounds that the words were too widely used for one person to own the exclusive rights, but the request for cancellation was rejected & the trade mark is still protected in all EU countries.

Sunlit uplands!

Political critic Owen Hatherley, author of The Ministry of Nostalgia: “It is a nostalgia for the state of being repressed.”

What bewilders him is why so many evince a dewy-eyed nostalgia for a time that they’ve not experienced, if it ever existed at all.
lareviewofbooks.org/article/keep-c…

It's a story of failed wartime propaganda, a mythical British identity constructed by repressive elites & corporate power.

Facing the multiple crises of corruption, COVID & climate change, the phrase resonates, but the LAST thing we should be do response is keep calm & carry on.

As Britain lurches from crisis to crisis, the press have a predictable response. This is post-war propaganda on an unprecedented scale.

But let's NOT keep calm & carry on: let's get angry & fight for a fairer, safer, greener, less divided, more peaceful & better governed future.