The “Keep Calm and Carry On” poster is very popular today. You see it everywhere on mugs, jackets, T-shirts, luggage, stickers, fridge magnets …you name it. This was originally a morale-raising propaganda poster produced by the British government in1939 during the beginning of the Second World War. It was everywhere in London and then disappeared. The poster came back into common view in 2000 and has been re-issued by a number of companies. The original posters are worth a lot of money. They are a tomato red with a crown and the words Keep Calm and Carry On in Helvetica type.
The poster was third in a series. The first read “Freedom Is In Peril. Defend It With All Your Might” and the second was Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution Will Bring Us Victory”. These posters were hanging everywhere by April of 1939 and were meant to encourage and motivate the public. They were intended to bring out the best in individual citizen. Most of these posters were destroyed on masse in 1940 so if you happen to stumble upon an original it would be worth lot of money.
The first place to recommercialize the poster was Barter Books, which is a second hand book store in Alnwick, Northumberland. After fifty years the image was in the public domain so the store’s owners started making clothing, mugs, doormats, baby clothes and other merchandise which immediately took off. You can also get mugs, cups, plates, cookie tins, towels and all kinds of other products with the saying on it.
The original poster which was quite huge and bigger than a person is collected in the British War Museum. The reproduction copies that are produced today tend to be much smaller. They are also now available in all colors of the rainbow instead of the classic tomato red color. The type is sometimes altered as well, possibly to avoid fighting over copyright of the many “Keep Calm and Carry On Parodies That Around.”
The British poster really took off in the United States after the bombing of the twin towers on September 11th. Many parodies of the poster have also been including one with an upside down crown that says “Now Panic and Freak Out.” Another very popular one was “Keep Calm and Have a Cupcake.” In fact, it has become a very popular poster in America’s numerous franchised coffee shops with most customers having no idea that what they are looking at is a piece of wartime propaganda from Britain!