File:Redhill - Jan 2010 - Ironing - There Is No Choice But To!.jpg

English: As a poster, memorabilia or merchandise

In 2000, a copy of the "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster was rediscovered in Barter Books, a second-hand bookshop in Alnwick, Northumberland. Since Crown Copyright expires on artistic works created by the UK government after 50 years, the image is now in the public domain. The store's owners, Stuart and Mary Manley, were thus able to reprint copies at customers' requests, as did others, inside and outside Britain. It has inspired ranges of clothing, mugs, doormats, baby clothes and other merchandise from various vendors, plus a book of motivational quotes. Parodies of the poster, with similar type but changing the phrase or the logo (for example, an upside-down crown with "Now Panic and Freak Out"), have also been sold. The poster's popularity has been attributed to a "nostalgia for a certain British character, an outlook" according to Mary Manley. Its message has also been felt relevant to the late-2000s recession. Merchandise with the image has been ordered in bulk by American financial firms, advertising agencies, and by Germans. It has appeared on the walls of places as diverse as the prime minister's strategy unit at 10 Downing Street, the Lord Chamberlain's office at Buckingham Palace and the United States embassy in Belgium. The Manleys have sold some 41,000 facsimile posters between 2001 and 2009. After 2 years reaching 200 hits it took just one day to get to 250 hits thanks mainly to something called 'tumblr' and the picture being posted to a large number of blogs. Sadly though it seems not all blogs register the hits the picture got to me. I have attached a link to one which shows how it has been distributed around the community.

It must be the slogan and not my thoughts on ironing that is the attraction as most of the young people reposting the picture have never seen an iron let alone used one.