Most propaganda is designed to incite or excite, to inspire action for what is hoped to be a winning cause. The grave images of Lord Kitchener and Uncle Sam stir something deep within us so that we would stand and fight for our country; other propaganda posters of the World War period use fear as a motivator — phrases like “Loose Lips Sink Ships” and “He Talked!” speak to the vital need to protect information. It is the rare case, however, that a government propaganda poster would be developed to prepare citizens for the unthinkable; that their country would be invaded and ruled by a foreign power.
“Keep Calm and Carry On.” These are the words on a deceivingly simple poster produced by the British government during World War II. The poster was meant to be distributed and posted in the event that Nazi Germany had successfully invaded England. I confess that it is only recently that this poster has been brought to my attention; my colleagues in the Newhouse Reading Room expressed incredulity at this, but also understood that I am not one to keep up on trends.
Apparently the poster and the phrase are so popular that they have inspired countless knockoffs: “Now Panic and Freak Out,” “Keep Calm and Have a Cupcake,” and “Get Excited and Make Things” are just a few of the takeoff phrases. The original poster design itself appears on coffee mugs, t-shirts and even doormats. The folks at Barter Books, who originally “rediscovered” a print of the poster, are no doubt making a pretty pence on merchandise and reprints of the poster, which, by the way, according to British Law, is in the public domain and no longer subject to copyright.
At first glance, the message is all British. Most of the articles regarding the poster speak to how elegantly it captures the “stiff upper lip” that the British are supposedly so well known for. Indeed, the design is simple and elegant: all centered, no extraneous graphics or framing, and headed by an easily distinguishable crown of King George VI, surely a symbol of rightness and order in a time of threatening Nazi extremism. The typeface is uniquely English as well. Some suggest that the poster was hand-lettered, and not set with a specific type. The closest match that is readily available to most of us is Gill Sans, a font commonly found in many versions of Microsoft Word.
But there’s something else to this poster, beyond the famous reputation of the English to “muddle through.” The poster is red. It is a warning signal, designed to visually complement what every Briton would already know, that their country was under siege. It is also, however, a warning to the invaders. The white text may be literally calming to the British people, but the red background is a big “fuck you” to Nazi barbarism. The poster’s simple combination of a soothing message and agitating color creates a uniquely complex piece of propaganda. Surely the poster’s makers must have known that most of them would be torn down or defaced by German soldiers, but that is the whole point. The poster would not necessarily enrage German authorities, but their act of tearing the posters down would expose the weakness of their position; that their allegiance was to paranoiac, murderous regime, and not a civil one based on rights and the rule of law. In this way, the poster perfectly demonstrates how Britain mixed admirable civility with steely resolve in the face of a feared, and fearful, enemy.
