I hate the Keep Calm thing. It evokes for me the most annoying, smug kind of British nostalgia. The posters were, in fact, the subject of our first ever post here at MFH. But I’m still enjoying the current copyright row.

Mark Coop, owner of Keep Calm And Carry On Ltd, has registered the slogan as a trademark (the original Ministry of Information poster had passed out of copyright when it was rediscovered in 2000). He has since been preventing some other businesses selling what he sees as substandard rip-off versions. There is now an online campaign to cancel his trademark by outraged Keep Calm lovers who feel this just isn’t cricket.

Here you can find Coop’s online repost to the hoo-ha. It’s very long, and he even gets around to quoting Shakespeare, no less. Broadly his argument is that he was instrumental in getting the slogan ‘out there’, had the sense to register a domain name and business early, and is only defending the slogan in the face of inferior products – he argues his own products are responsibly manufactured to a high standard. He wants, essentially, to keep Keep Calm classy. (Too late!)

So, Shakespeare spouting aside, does he have a point? I think not, and much as I dislike it, I think the Keep Calm slogan, like the language of Shakespeare himself, belongs to the nation. Is it ours to be used, abused and printed on allsortsacrap, until everyone but everyone is sick of it.

*The Keep Calm pastiche posters throughout were found on Somebody, Pinch Me, where you’ll find many more versions too. Personally, I’m also totally over the pastiches

**BTW – have you tried Googling Keep Calm tattoo? I have.