![]() Production on all three began in August of 1939. The first slogan printed was “ Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution Will Bring Us Victory,” the second “Freedom Is in Peril Defend It with All Your Might,” and the third “Keep Calm and Carry On.” The idea was to convey a message of encouragement from the King himself, a rallying cry to inspire people through the initial shocks and horrors of war on the home front. They settled on three slogans printed in fine type against a single bold color backdrop topped with the only image in the series, the crown of King George VI. Meanwhile, the Home Planning Committee was tasked in April of 1939 with devising poster designs that would be simple, striking and difficult for the already well-developed German propaganda machine to duplicate. Reestablishing an MOI would be tantamount to a government announcement that they expected to go to war again, so the organization was developed in secret in the late 1930s and only officially formed on September 4th, 1939, four days after the German invasion of Poland, one day after Britain declared war on Germany. There wasn’t even a Ministry of Information, in fact, when the posters were first conceived, because the department responsible for propaganda and censorship had been closed at the end of World War I. “Keep Calm and Carry On” was one of three posters designed and printed to rally the population of Britain for war before war was even declared. This is the only known collection of the original 1939 poster whose iconography has become ubiquitous over the past few years both in its original form and in countless parodies. His Careless Talk Costs Lives series of posters are amongst the most famous of the propaganda campaigns of the Second World War.A unique cache of approximately 15 original “Keep Calm and Carry On” World War II propaganda posters were brought in for appraisal to an Antiques Roadshow event at St. He worked unpaid for the Ministry of Information during the war, producing cartoons with a short word of advise. Picture editor of Punch from 1937-1949, then editor until 1953, he noted that the best sort of advertising would make people smile. They hung it up in their shop and started producing reproductions, and the poster has become an internationally recognised image, reproduced on mugs, t-shirts, and adapted into such uplifting slogans as “Keep Calm and Drink Tea”.Ī much more successful series of propaganda was created by ‘Fougasse’ – Cyril Bird. ![]() However, in 2000, the owner of Barter Books in Alnwick discovered a copy of the poster in the bottom of a box of books. Owing to the shortage of raw materials, the paper was recycled and there the story should have ended. As the invasion never happened, Hitler’s armies being otherwise occupied elsewhere in the world, and the Spitfire achieving victory in the Battle of Britain, the Keep Calm posters were never used. In the event the poster campaign was not a great success, with the people regarding it as an instruction from the powers-that-be that it was the people, not the leaders, who were going to be the ones doing the hard work. The fourth poster – “Keep Calm and Carry On” – was distributed, but was to be held back and only used in the event of invasion. ![]() Bearing a crown at the top these posters were clearly intended to be a message from the King: “Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution, Will Bring Us Victory” was displayed widely, with hundreds of thousands being printed similarly “Freedom is in Peril Defend it with all Your Might” and “Don’t help the enemy! Careless Talk May Give Away Vital Secrets”. In 1939, with invasion an ever-present threat, HM Government commissioned four posters with snippets designed to encourage the population. The story of the poster is well known these days, but bears repeating. As they were never used, the survivors are incredibly rare. ![]() Once it became obvious that they were not going to invade, these posters were sent back for recycling. An instantly-recognisable brand today, this poster was reserved for use in the event of the German invasion. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |