Keep Calm and Carry On…with the commercialisation: it’s good for our spirits

Reports published today suggest Brits are demonstrating ‘Blitz spirit’, and despite the economic doom and gloom, we’re actually pretty resilient here in the UK. The idea of ‘Blitz spirit’ conjures feelings of nostalgia and we do indeed have a current enthralment with objects and trends made popular in the past.

Our current fascination with good times gone by is perhaps best reflected in our appetite for all things adorned with the slogan, “Keep Calm and Carry On”.

The poster’s message is incredibly relevant in this day and age, adopted as an unofficial motto by a nation weary of financial doom and gloom. The words are positive and authoritative, and in times of uncertainty and anxiety, we turn towards even the littlest of things that suggest stability and reassurance.

These days, we see the phrase everywhere – from birthday cards, to mugs and kitchenware, to government offices, and often with new and humorous takes on the original phrase. The Lord Chamberlain’s Office at Buckingham Palace, the prime minister’s strategy unit at No 10 and the officers’ mess in Basra have all ordered posters, revived in recent years from its British, Second World War roots.

The poster was originally designed by the British Ministry of Information and was intended to boost the morale of British citizens in case of a severe wartime incident such as an air raid, or worst case scenario, invasion. Interestingly, although over two million copies of the poster were printed, it was never actually displayed in public. By the end of the war, the majority of the posters were destroyed and only a handful are known to have survived.

One such poster was discovered in a second-hand bookshop in Northumberland, England, owned by Stuart and Mary Manley. Astounded by the poster’s popularity when they put it on display, the Manley’s began printing copies for customers, but chose not to file for trademark protection of their print, asking that anyone who copied the print credit the Manleys.

In March this year, Mark Coop obtained a European Union trademark for the phrase “Keep Calm and Carry On,” after his application for a UK trademark was denied. In 2007, after purchasing a copy of the poster from the Manleys, Coop began selling “Keep Calm and Carry On” products online at keepcalmandcarryon.com. People took offence to his actions, and Trade Mark Direct filed an application to invalidate Coop’s trademark, claiming that the public does not associate the phrase as an indicator of origin for any of Coop’s merchandise.

The legal battle for the rights to the slogan continues, but masked in the shadows of the poster’s popularity. The phrase has become a brand in its own right. “Keep Calm and Carry On” has become a statement of defiance against the trials and tribulations of this day and age, demonstrating the pulling-together power of a few choice words and our British love of nostalgia.