March 29th, 2012 - 1 Comment »

“Keep Calm and Carry On” is everywhere these days. Turns out that it is now famous despite the fact that it was never actually used.

The full story is covered through this blog post and video at Apartment Therapy. An excellent three minute video is below:

Incredibly, the British government printed 3.5 million of these posters but never used them. If one had not been accidentally discovered and posted in an obscure bookshop in the north of England, it would never have been noticed. The “Keep Calm and Carry On” poster would not have become worldwide phenomenon.

Failure is the secret to success. Just because something brilliant is hidden away in a drawer, never used, does not mean it is not brilliant. Just because you’ve printed up countless flyers for a message you never actually sent, does not mean you don’t have something to say.

Five words can change the world. “Keep calm and carry on.” So can six words: Failure is the secret to success.

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Brooke Randolph, LMHC

Thank you, Robby. I had seen this practically everywhere, but I was not sure of the origins. This was not the story that had been told to me. I like this story better. I doubt it would have been nearly as popular if it had actually been used originally.

Seek to Misconstrue + a

Failure: The Blog

October 2012

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[VIDEO] The Most Famous, Unused Poster

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