![]() "There's something about British dignity." ![]() In America, it would be 'Keep calm and go on Oprah Winfrey and blab,'" Mary says. "No other country could have that phrase and have it so redolent of a people. What captivated her from the outset was the poster's simplicity and its message typifying British stoicism. (As for her age, she says she is older than her husband, who is 70, but limits further questions by saying only that "71 will do.") You want to keep up a standard, and 'Keep calm and eat a cupcake' doesn't do that," says Mary, a lively, forthright woman who was born in Missouri but moved to England in the '80s. But of course now it's been trivialized beyond belief…. The Manleys say they are sick of the endless iterations, especially Mary, who had objected to selling copies of the poster in the first place, for fear of sullying the purity of it. Coop's trademark does not give him control over the visual factor or all the many parodies. lists nearly 100,000 products with "Keep calm" in their descriptions.Īlmost all use a version of the no-frills, slightly fusty font that lends the original poster its retro feel. Visitors to an aviary featuring birds of prey in southern England can buy mugs proclaiming "Keep calm and carrion." For aspiring Jedi knights, T-shirts advise "Calm you shall keep and carry on you must," with an outline of Yoda's head in place of the British crown. What seemed to the Manleys as just a bit of quintessential British nostalgia has morphed into an international industry. ![]() About the only claim to international fame for Alnwick up to now has been its medieval castle, which provided a backdrop for broom-flying youngsters in the first Harry Potter movie. The Manleys never envisaged that their serendipitous find here in the historic town of Alnwick (pronounced "Ann-ick"), close to the Scottish border, would wind up a cultural touchstone. "By and large we do," Manley says with a rueful smile. Until then, the merchants fighting to free those five little words from private ownership have no choice but to heed them. The World War II relic, now on display at his bookshop in Alnwick, England, has launched a commercial juggernaut and a legal feud. Stuart Manley stumbled upon this slightly faded poster about a decade ago, tucked at the bottom of a box of books. The Manleys and their allies are hoping that their legal appeal to overturn the trademark, which gives Coop exclusive rights to "Keep calm and carry on" in all 27 countries of the European Union, will succeed. His foes accuse him of trying to monopolize a piece of history. The businessman, a former TV producer named Mark Coop, insists he's simply protecting the interests and brand of the company he has worked hard to build since 2007. ![]() A slogan originally intended as a public exhortation to a nation at war is now the intellectual property of one person, who has forced some other vendors to stop using it. The Manleys and other traders are caught in a spat with an enterprising Englishman who, after launching his own line of "Keep calm and carry on" products, trademarked the phrase with European authorities two years ago. Manley's little side venture spawned a marketing and cultural phenomenon, inspiring a million imitations around the world ("Keep calm and kill zombies," anyone?) and also, alas, one very acrimonious feud. Enter perhaps the most commercialized British product since David Beckham. After many admiring comments and inquiries from customers, Manley started selling copies - behind Mary's back, because she didn't want to commercialize it.Īhem. Unfolding it, he found himself staring at a relic of World War II, a long-forgotten piece of government propaganda bearing the logo of the British crown and this pithy message:Ĭharmed by its classic design and no-fuss stoicism, Manley and his wife, Mary, framed the vintage poster and hung it up by the cash register in their secondhand bookshop in a disused Victorian train station in the far north of England. Thirteen years ago, Stuart Manley stumbled upon a slightly faded red poster tucked at the bottom of a box of books he had bought at auction. Has a piece of advice ever seemed so apt, or so frightfully ironic?
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