Comments on: Keep Calm and Carry On

Keep Calm and Carry On

6am — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:42:26 -0800

In 1939, King George VI commissioned the Ministry of Information to produce three posters designed to reassure and prepare the British nation for an inevitable war. The posters were designed not so much to deliver any specific instruction, but rather to suggest an attitude - from King to country - towards the unknown. Stiff upper lip, old boy. KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON.

YOUR COURAGE, YOUR CHEERFULNESS, YOUR RESOLUTION, WILL BRING US VICTORY FREEDOM IS IN PERIL, DEFEND IT WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON This extract from a PhD thesis outlines in more historic detail the concept, execution and reception of the three posters.

By: 6am

6am — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:44:37 -0800

If like me the Keep Calm poster makes you proud verging on tears to be British (in a good way, not a BNP sort of way), you might be interested in this skydrive folder I put up. I hope that doesn't count as a 'personal project'...

By: Horace Rumpole

Horace Rumpole — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:53:05 -0800

I cannot begin to tell you how badly I want to visit "The British Library of secondhand bookshops."

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:54:43 -0800

The posters were required to be uniform in style and were to feature a 'special and handsome' typeface making them difficult for the enemy to counterfeit. RELAXEN UND WATSCHEN DER BLINKENLICHT.

By: ArkhanJG

ArkhanJG — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:58:53 -0800

If you want your very own Keep Calm And Carry On poster, Barter Books are selling reproductions, as mentioned. I just ordered one for my office.

By: thecaddy

thecaddy — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:07:27 -0800

We have one in our newsroom, in Virginia. Always makes me happy to see it. I'd assumed it had to do with the Blitz, but that's for posting the backstory.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:09:23 -0800

I totally need a Keep Calm and Carry On poster. With the word "Nurse!" stuck on the bottom.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:10:32 -0800

NICHT FÜR DER GEFINGERPOKEN UND MITTENGRABEN

By: 6am

6am — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:12:03 -0800

I ordered one from Barter too a while back - made a Tshirt from the EPS on my skydrive too. Everyone I know is getting the poster for christmas...

By: 6am

6am — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:13:29 -0800

Shopping?

By: elfgirl

elfgirl — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:17:27 -0800

If you've had quite enough of this keeping calm and carrying on business, have we got the shirt for you.

By: 6am

6am — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:19:55 -0800

That's fucking class, elfgirl...I may have to make a purchase.

By: Balisong

Balisong — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:30:07 -0800

Bring It On Dead Or Alive With Us or Against Us Slightly different tone, same bullshit propaganda.

By: Megami

Megami — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:38:51 -0800

Keep Calm and Carry On poster have been seen regularly in shops around my way (in Australia) and I was putting off getting one until I moved to the UK (I have a few poster reproductions of WWII propaganda in my office already.) Now thanks to elfgirl I think I might just get the t-shirt she linked to instead.

By: Megami

Megami — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:38:55 -0800

By: Optimus Chyme

Optimus Chyme — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:07:19 -0800

Well, I couldn't help myself and bought two. Definitely best of the web, not so good for my pocketbook.

By: Grimp0teuthis

Grimp0teuthis — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:12:47 -0800

I HAVE EATEN THE PLUMS that were in THE ICEBOX and which YOU WERE PROBABLY saving FOR BREAKFAST

By: Optimus Chyme

Optimus Chyme — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:13:05 -0800

Slightly different tone, same bullshit propaganda. posted by Balisong at 6:30 PM on November 19 they were being attacked by nazis good lord

By: meech

meech — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:14:21 -0800

Bring It On Dead Or Alive With Us or Against Us Slightly different tone, same bullshit propaganda. Except the ones you've quoted are either about attacking people or being aggressive while this is a poster about being moderate while being attacked. Way different propaganda in my book.

By: dilettante

dilettante — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:17:13 -0800

I kinda prefer When in trouble Or in doubt Run in circles Scream and shout

By: Miko

Miko — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:20:20 -0800

The posters were required to be uniform in style and were to feature a 'special and handsome' typeface making them difficult for the enemy to counterfeit. So, how coincidental is it that it closely resembles the Obama poster font? I have never seen these before, and I'm not British, but they definitely sum up my overall impression of British fortitude during WWII. I was moved to tears once watching one of those historic films showing a cheerful milkman whistling his way through blitz-bombed London's heaps of smoking rubble. Delivering the milk.

By: Abiezer

Abiezer — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:22:48 -0800

The contemporary update doesn't really manage the same tone.

By: Miko

Miko — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:23:40 -0800

Typophile discussion - consensus is that it's pretty close to Obama's Gotham.

By: 6am

6am — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:43:22 -0800

tis very like gotham, save for the arrrr.

By: aacheson

aacheson — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:47:00 -0800

My, what a very British poster.

By: black8

black8 — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:47:58 -0800

Here in the PNW, we KEEP CLAM.

By: captainsohler

captainsohler — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:15:32 -0800

Does anybody else find it weird that there are Department of Homeland Secuirty billboards placed in cities advising us to be ready for impending disaster? seems to have the opposite effect. sigh

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:41:42 -0800

the 1962 version - KEEP CALM PUT YOUR HEAD BETWEEN YOUR KNEES AND KISS YOUR ARSE GOODBYE

By: bottlebrushtree

bottlebrushtree — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:59:46 -0800

As seen in San Francisco in 2001 American, open for business You still seem them from time to time in San Francisco, I always hear Fat Tony in my head saying "keep gaming..." when I do.

By: Rhaomi

Rhaomi — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:20:45 -0800

UND VHAT IST WRONG MIT SCHMETTERLING?!

By: jokeefe

jokeefe — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:50:38 -0800

I have a Keep Calm and Carry On poster in my bedroom. I love it-- it's the first thing I see in the mornings once I've fought with the alarm clock. I also bought one for my mother for her birthday last year-- poster, not alarm clock.

By: jonathanbell

jonathanbell — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 03:41:20 -0800

There's even a Keep Calm gallery these days. I prefer the mash-ups, such as this one created by this isn't happiness.

By: Skeptic

Skeptic — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 04:48:02 -0800

I'm not a cognitive scientist, but I'd have thought that printing the message KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON in BIG BOLD LETTERS on an ALARM RED BACKGROUND may be somewhat counterproductive.

By: twine42

twine42 — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 05:06:10 -0800

Your Courage Your Cheerfulness Your Resolution Will Bring Us Victory Burma Shave

By: Dragonness

Dragonness — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:01:27 -0800

I have a Keep Calm and Carry On poster in my kitchen.

By: Halloween Jack

Halloween Jack — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:25:15 -0800

Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill did a variation on this for their League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier graphic novel, which featured the Ingsoc insignia instead of the crown.

By: Skyanth

Skyanth — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:04:44 -0800

In a freaky coincidence, I'm wearing my KC&CO t-shirt right now.

By: Sys Rq

Sys Rq — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 08:21:21 -0800

Alas, the film career of the Keep Calm Gang was not nearly as successful as that of their counterparts.

By: Sys Rq

Sys Rq — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 08:37:17 -0800

LIE BACK AND THINK OF ENGLAND