Keep Calm and Carry On

An Old War Poster Takes on Modern Meaning and Inspires a Contest

Mar 19, 2009 Alex Sharp

"Keep Calm and Carry On" has suddenly started appearing on posters, T-shirts, and coffee mugs, comforting people as the economy and environment struggles along.

The words seem to be exactly what people crave hearing at the moment - "Keep Calm and Carry On". The original poster was red, with a white crown and white writing. It was designed to help calm jangled nerves in England if the Germans landed on British shores - but they never did, so the poster was never used. Now it is a pop culture phenomenon, inspiring products and even a newspaper contest.

How the Keep Calm and Carry on Message Was Reintroduced

According Keep Calm and Carry On, a website that sells products and shares the history of the poster, a few posters were used, but the poster was not released on a broad scale like most war posters are. The site reveals that:

the crown is based on King George VI's crown
the poster being marketed was found in a box of books at an auction
the person who came up with the slogan is unknown

The site is responsible for creating so much excitiment over the simple yet reassuring phrase, and their good sales have inspired others to take up shop and sell T-shirts and other products as well. A search at Cafe Press reveals journals, bags, clothes, magnets, and buttons with the phrase, so people on both sides of the pond are able to start keeping on and carrying on. Examples of different products in use appear with this article.

Keep Calm and Carry on Poster Inspires Daily Mail Contest

A detailed and engaging history of the Keep Calm and Carry On Poster is written by Jane Fryer of The Daily Mail, a British paper akin to The New York Post. In her March 19, 2009 article, "Exquisitely Understated, Utterly Inspiring, The Wartime Poster Striking a Chord in Our Credit-Crunch Times", Fryer writes that several different slogans were used during the war, and describes the history of the posters and interviews Stewart and Mary Manley, the Northumberland couple who have started the inspiring re-emergence of the phrase. Fryer describes the poster and phrase as too " authoritative and British" to be shoplifted.

The Daily Mail Poster Contest for a Modern Reassuring Phrase

Although there are no major prizes to be awarded for creating Keep Calm and Carry On 2.0, the poster's simplistic art and message have proved to be a financial success for the Manleys, who sell several thousand items based on the phrase a week. Go-getter artists can set up free shops on Cafe Press and eBay and sell the British phrase, which is in the pubic domain, and items with the winning phrase, which would not be in the public domain for decades. The Daily Mail poster contest is simple, and it is found at the bottom of Jane Fryer's article:

"Can you design a poster, with a slogan of no more than five words, which sums up the mood of today's turbulent Britain? Send it to Daily Mail Letters, 2 Derry Street, Kensington, London W8 5TT".

Since "today's turbulent Britain" is actually "today's turbulent world", it seems that any philosophical artist could find success reassuring people. From President Obama's "Yes We Can" to George VI's "Keep Calm and Carry On", simple phrases have proved to have appeal to "today's turbulent" society. Not everyone will have the good fortune to find an old poster in a box of books and have the good sense to market it, but everyone can benefit from an easy, calming phrase that is delightfully popping up everywhere. When it tires out, as all phrases do, perhaps the winner of the Daily Mail contest will have provided the a new phrase to offer rest, peace, and hope to those struggling through difficult days.

The copyright of the article Keep Calm and Carry On in Entrepreneurs is owned by Alex Sharp. Permission to republish Keep Calm and Carry On in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.