About
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Keep Calm and Carry On is an image macro based on a long forgotten British World War II poster. It can appear as “Keep Calm and x” or simply “(Do action x) and (Do action y).”
Origin
The Keep Calm and Carry on poster was commissioned as part of a series during World War II by England’s temporary Ministry of Information. They were meant to spark cheer and confidence for the public in the event of an attack. The first three commissioned posters were “Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution, Will Bring Us Victory,” “Freedom is in Peril Defend it with all your Might,” and “Keep Calm and Carry On.”
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The first two were actually circulated during the War; since the third was only intended to be used if Germany invaded Britain, it lay dormant for years.
Created in 1939, the posters were meant to be seen as a direct message from the King, to motivate the British people to stay confident during the War. Her Majesty’s Stationary Office (HMSO) was charged with printing the posters, costing approximately £20,600 for printing and storage of 5,000,000 copies, with an additional fee of £225 for the artists who designed them.
In late August 1939 when the posters were finally printed, Keep Calm and Carry On accounted for 65% of the 5 million ordered posters. These were kept in storage in case of a dire attack on the country, while the other two designs were circulated that September. Highly criticized, the campaign was seen as a failure (Lewis, 2004). Since there was not a large-scale attack or occupation, the design was never used. Most of the “Keep Calm and Carry On” posters were destroyed or lost in time, with the exception of 7: 6 found in 2009 that are in storage at the Imperial War Museum, and 1 that resides in a British book shop.
Rediscovery
The poster was rediscovered in 2000, Stuart Manley, owner of Barter Books in Alnwick, England. Manley and his wife found the poster folded at the bottom of a box of old books they purchased at an auction. They framed it, putting it up in their shop where it became popular with their customers. In 2001, they began printing and selling facsimiles of the original poster. According to Mary Manley, by March 2009, they had sold over 40,000 copies.
Spread
In 1997, Dr. Rebecca Lewis published the first part of her research on WWII posters, including this series. Her undergraduate dissertation from that year is available online here. Her PhD thesis was completed in 2004. She has been keeping a blog tracking “Keep Calm and Carry On” mentions since April 2009.
Keep Calm and Carry On.com was registered in February 2007, selling the slogan on everything from T-shirts and bags to deck chairs and chocolate bars.
Resurgence of the poster’s popularity occurred in early 2009 to bring some confidence to Britons during an economic crisis. The Guardian and the Independent both published articles about the popularity of the poster.
In July 2009, the New York Times Magazine published an article on the commodity factor of the poster, focusing on the popularity of derivatives of the original slogan as well.
Derivatives
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T-shirt company Threadless published a spoof design in November 2008 with an upside-down crown and the slogan Now Panic and Freak Out.
In April 2009, the Keep Calm-o-matic image generator was created, allowing users to make their own posters as well as hosting a gallery of images made with the site.
The Welsh band Stereophonics released their seventh album Keep Calm and Carry On, named after the poster, in Novermber 2009.
French site Geekiz posted 85 variations of the poster in May 2010.
In June 2010, British loyalty card Nectar launched the ad campaign Keep Calm and Carry One, to get people to sign up to their service.