Check out this audio slideshow of posters collated by Dr Laragh Gollogly from the World Health Organisation… I really MUST get around to submitting the article that I wrote on Venereal Disease posters… I wrote it in 2004, so it needs a bit of updating…
‘Coughs and sneezes spread diseases. Trap them in your handkerchief!’ This slogan from a 1942 British government poster was aimed at reducing absenteeism from serious war work, but it caught on, and encouraged more hygienic habits in the population as a whole. No surprise then, to find it revived to combat the latest threats from various kinds of flu and the norovirus with added instructions about binning tissues, then washing hands thoroughly.
For travellers confined in aircraft cabins, buses, rail carriages and cruise ships, this is particularly good advice. Air-conditioning has many advantages, but one of its problems is that air-borne germs can circulate very quickly. No one wants to be responsible for spreading coughs and sneezes, or any kind of flu, over several continents in the process of one long-haul flight or ‘cruise of a lifetime’.
April 2009 (also see October 2009, and a commentary)
1945
Coughs and Sneezes Spread Diseases was of course a classic Second World War phrase, which has continued to be used in government propaganda (or should be say publicity?!) since. Noticed this one on the wall earlier this week, note, no reference to swine flu, which has certainly had extra visitors searching for the phrase!
Swine Flu
The world is gripped by the fear of Swine Flu, as the World Health Organisation upgrades the current level of pandemic alert from phase 4 to 5. This does need to be kept in perspective as it is an unfortunate fact that thousands die every year from bog standard flu, and the current epidemic has not led to deaths in Europe at least.
Keep Calm and Carry On
However, this does give an option for the Keep Calm and Carry On to yet again be put to another use, and Zazzle is straight on it with “Keep Calm and Don’t Sneeze” - yet another clever use of the slogan, and its accompanied monetisation. They are not the only ones to pick up on the connection, as has Simon Calder, Jayne Dowle, Deborah Orr, Dan Ariely, South Wales Argus, Vince in Vancouver, and The Moustacho. Thanks to @SimplerDave on Twitter for pointing this out to me via Twitter!
Coughs and Sneezes Spread Diseases
Just wondering how long before these images make their way out again (I’m giving a paper on this in September). I was talking about this with someone a couple of years ago, as the flu jab leaflets looked distinctly Second World War style - and I guess they were aimed at that generation! Meantime, watch this 1945 video.