Economist journalist, Walter Bagehot, creates his own theory as to why the slogan is so popular; ‘It taps directly into the country's mythic image of itself: unshowily brave and just a little stiff, brewing tea as the bombs fall’.^[4] Although this observation is exaggeratedly comic it edges close to the truth of the situation, especially considering one of the posters most popular parodies is ‘Now Panic and Freak Out’, sometimes accompanied by an inverted crown. In the series of books that I chanced upon in Virgin Megastore, each cover utilises this technique creating a new slogan with its own unique meaning. For example, sitting beside ‘Keep Calm for Chaps’ was ‘Keep Calm for Ladies’ and also, ‘Sod Calm and Get Angry’. These brightly coloured covers, provide the reader’s first approach to the witty advice books contained within the binding. Upon inspection of the copyright page in the book, the following is stated ‘Designed and set by seagulls.net’. When I researched this website I found that they are commercial designers that work with publishers to design the covers of predominantly ‘text only books’.^[5] The designer’s independence from the text creates a separation away from the intent of the author. However, it could also be seen that the creative freedom allowed for better slogans to be created, but as far as tracing an individual artist or creator, our journey stops here.

Returning to my initial encounter with the book, I have stated how I was reminded of a news story that I had seen. As the ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ slogan was out of copyright all were free to create merchandise as they so desired. This created a recent legal dispute as Mr Coop, the owner of Keep Calm and Carry On Ltd who supplies many highstreet stores with his merchandise tried to enforce his rights to the government slogan through the online retail site ‘eBay’, preventing other sellers from selling merchandise that contained the ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ logo. The dispute caused controversy as Mr Coop sould not get the slogan trademarked in the UK so instead ventured into the EU, gaining an EU trademark.^[6] Returning to Stuart Manley, the man who found the original poster in a dusty box in his second hand book store, he finds Coop’s behavior unethical. Without ownership, it would appear that the image can transcend beyond its initial purpose very quickly. It is very likely that many people who approach the till at Virgin Megastore to find a small book that says ‘Keep Calm for Chaps’, recognise the format, smile and merely pass by without giving it as much contemplation as I did. History is often lost behind an image. I suppose that the final question is, does it really matter?

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