Tag Army Recruitment
FOOTBALL WAR
I did a version of these new British Army recruitment ads back in 2010 for my anti-army recruitment comic Join the Army. The UK is the only country in Europe and NATO that still recruits 16 year old children into…
SAVE SCRAP WOOD
It’s true those old war propaganda posters do take on a new meaning during a pandemic. Prints in the shop.
FORCES WATCH PODCAST
I was invited on the Warrior Nation podcast by ForcesWatch, where we talked about my anti-recruitment art, Action Man: Battlefield Casualties, child soldiers in the British army, and the ways that Hollywood works with the Pentagon to turn movie fans into military recruits (as elaborated on in the below video by Pop Culture Detective)
GREAT WAR
Very happy to say my ‘Great War’ print has been acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum for their poster collection. They have the original 1915 poster already so it should make for a good companion piece. It appeared in bus stops last year as part of a project in collaboration with Veterans For Peace UK marking 100 years since the end of the senseless slaughter of WWI. I’ve made a very limited run of 30 of these prints available on my website: https://www.spellingmistakescostlives.com/product-page/great-war-limited-edition-giclee-print You can support my work on Patreon here: www.patreon.com/spellingmistakescostlives
GREAT WAR
The UK government now mourns those whose lives were stolen by WWI, but lest we forget they also produced the manipulative recruitment posters that convinced tens of thousands to sign up to be thrown into the carnage. Poster I made in collaboration with Veterans for Peace UK, installed by Special Patrol Group. Based on the 1915 recruitment poster “Daddy what did YOU do in the Great War?” which pushed the idea that young men who did not sign up would spend the rest of their lives regretting missing out on the adventure of the First World War, and that those who did would return home with a lot of great stories to share with their future children. The reality was that of those who returned at all, many were horrifically maimed and disabled, and for the most part they kept the stories of the horrors they witnessed to themselves. #remembrance #remembranceday #armistice100 #WWI
THIS IS BELONGING
The Army blocked me on twitter.
THIS THURSDAY
My new exhibition EMPIRE AIR opens in Munich this Thursday 19th outside the Nationaltheater on Max-Joseph-Platz.Opening evening: https://www.facebook.com/events/165047364113758/Exhibition runs from 20th-29th April https://www.facebook.com/events/462713417478828/ More photos etc as they appear will be posted here. Hosted by Positive-Propaganda and the City of Munich Culture Department
PAT MILLS: THE POLITICS OF 2000AD
I was lucky enough to meet Pat Mills at Glasgow Comic Con (founder of 2000AD & writer of Charley’s War, Judge Dredd etc) and was surprised and honoured to find out he likes my work. Here he is giving a great talk recently (starts: 2:49) about the politics of comics & 2000AD and at the end gives a hearty plug for both Join the Army and the Action Man: Battlefield Casualties films which I made with director Price James, et al.
NEW FURY
The Daily Mail is FURIOUS that JEREMY CORBYN didn’t come round my house and stop me drawing this anti-army recruitment comic back in 2013, the same comic that has the full SUPPORT of VETERANS for Peace UK. Even worse, I wrote SICK TWEETS about how Corbyn is GOOD in the PAST WEEK. Scientific proof, if science were even real, that CORBYN HATES TROOPS. The Sun got hold of it too. I’ve posted a screen grab below as well as the text from the Mail article if you’d rather not give them ad revenue. Daily Mail commenters occasionally put the hatred to one side to marvel instead at the nature of time and existence.
GREAT WAR
Some anti-recruitment propaganda for the next great war. Original available to buy, contact me for details. If you’re not familiar with the old WWI recruitment poster, I’ve uploaded it below. ORIGINAL POSTER
ROYAL NAVY POSTERS – THE PRESS
Been getting some press attention over the Royal Navy recruitment posters I designed. The above video was on RT UK News on 3/2/17. It’s also been reported in The Sun, The Telegraph, Evening Standard and Brietbart. I’ll update the project page if or when anything else comes in.
ROYAL NAVY: ‘BECOME A SUICIDE BOMBER’
I designed the new Royal Navy recruitment poster that has started appearing around London. Budding recruits should visit royalnavy.org.uk for more information. Big thanks to Special Patrol Group for installation help. More photos and updated project page here. Nuclear bombs are suicide bombs – it is impossible to use these weapons without also killing ourselves. A country with nuclear weapons is prepared to destroy the world rather than lose a war. With a single weapon system we hold the planet hostage by the sort of terror you only get from thermonuclear missiles. Terrorists are willing to commit suicide to brutally murder innocent people, but so are we. In fact, we’re about to spend £200 billion on upgrading our ability to do so. The British government refuses to rule out first-use of nuclear weapons and has stated it may use them even if its ‘vital interests’ are threatened. Due to NATO membership and our alleged Special Relationship, we’re also committed to a nuclear suicide pact with America. The posters point budding recruits to a website at royalnavy.org.uk which demonstrates how the crew of a nuclear submarine must be prepared to destroy human civilisation on command.
TABLOID FURY
On Sunday I had a stall of my work at Momentum’s The World Transformed arts and politics festival at The Black-E in Liverpool. Some of my anti-army recruitment work was on display: ‘Join the Army‘ and my ‘Make Stuff Dead‘ mugs along with flyers for Action Man: Battlefield Casualties. This work is supported and endorsed by 100s of veterans, but why would the right-wing press let that get in the way of an opportunity to smear Jeremy Corbyn?My favourite part of the whole thing was Tory MP Johnny Mercer calling me a “Britain hating anarchist who knows the value for nothing” in The Sun’s online article. The story was originally posted by Guido Fawkes and picked up by the Daily Mail who went fully haywire and claimed the stall was actually at the Labour party conference. But the journamislm required to find out that wasn’t the case would have detracted from the DISGUSTED OUTRAGE. It was also strange to see the press such as The Times claim soldiers were deeply offended by my ‘Make Stuff Dead’ mugs while my twitter feed was full of soldiers asking me where they could buy one. (Here, in case you were wondering) Today Veterans for Peace UK have released a statement about the press reaction to this work. It is a powerful and eleoquent refutation of the media’s use of soldiers for political ends. You can read the full thing on their website. Here’s an excerpt: VETERANS BACK “SICK TOYS” “Let us be clear. The superb ‘Army, Be The Meat’ project and the ‘Action Man: Battlefield Casualties‘ films, which were launched 18 months ago, are nothing to do with Labour or Momentum.The credit belongs to the artist who conceived and created it and, spiritually, to the hundreds of veterans who endorsed it. This work […]
BLOOD SOAKERS
Super-soaker filled with fake blood for distressingly realistic fun-like war-action.“Have you got the guts?” Get the A3 poster here. Also available as a postcard. Boxed toy also available for sale, limited edition of 10. Message for details. #Toys #BeTheMeat #Army
ACTION MAN: BATTLEFIELD CASUALTIES ON SKY NEWS
Just uploaded this clip from last year when Action Man: Battlefield Casualties was on Sky News with Veterans for Peace UK members Kieran Devlin and Ben Griffin eloquently putting the case for why the UK should raise the age of recruitment to 18, while the Ministry of Defence fielded the former head of the army Richard Dannatt to counter our vile and unpatriotic accusations.
THOMAS THE TANK
If you’re able and/or interested in funding the creation of this short film please get in touch and I can provide more details.
THOMAS THE TANK
Inspired by the British Military’s genuine range of toy soldiers and military Lego called HM Armed Forces, aimed at ages 5+. The UK is one of only 19 countries worldwide, and the only country in NATO or Europe, that still…
ACTION MAN EXHIBITION
Action Man: Battlefield Casualties exhibition on this weekend for Armed Forces Day, at Red Gallery, 1-3 Rivington Street, London (Map). Open 12-8pm. Includes the toys themselves, dioramas and a screening of the film. Closes 2nd July. www.battlefieldcasualties.co.uk #ActionMan
ACTION MAN: BATTLEFIELD CASUALTIES
Three short films made in collaboration with Veterans for Peace UK to draw attention to Britain’s policy of recruiting 16 and 17 year olds into the armed forces and targeting children with recruitment propaganda. The Action Man: Battlefield Casualties film I wrote for Veterans for Peace UK, directed by Price James (Agile Films) and featuring Matt Berry was released in June 2015. It directed viewers to a purpose-built website battlefieldcasualties.co.uk which contained all the facts about child recruitment in the British armed forces and details about our MP letter writing campaign to try and end it. TABLE OF CONTENTS Action Man poster and postcards available. The films are based on the below fake toys I made while drawing Join the Army, an anti-army recruitment comic. The toys were included as a poster in the “Deluxe” edition. JOIN THE ARMY LINK
COMING SOON
#ActionMan #Military
ARMY MUGS
My new ‘MAKE STUFF DEAD’ / ‘BE THE MEAT’ mugs are just £10 and come with an unsettlingly colourful presentation box. Get them here. #BeTheMeat
JOIN THE ARMY
My anti-army recruitment comic ‘Join the Army‘ has now SOLD OUT. Thanks to everyone who bought a copy! I’ve been working with Veterans for Peace UK and director Price James on a series of short films based on the Action Man: Battlefield Casualties poster which came with the deluxe edition of the book. We’re going to start production soon and they should be online by the summer. They’re going to make you feel sick. #BeTheMeat #Military
FOOTBALL
Repost of an old image from my comic ‘Join the Army‘. Also available as a print. #BeTheMeat
ACTION MAN: BATTLEFIELD CASUALTIES – THE TOYS
As part of my Join the Army comic I made this poster of three Action Man ‘Battlefield Casualties’. If you’re not already aware of it, the British military have their own line of children’s toys which tend to focus on how much fun war is, (called H.M. Armed Forces). I wanted to make something of an antidote to that. I also recently wrote a short article for Veterans For Peace UK about the project and military advertising in general. You can read it here. These will been shown at the launch exhibition for the comic.
STUFF
This is the front cover of the mini-comic that’s going to come with the deluxe edition of ‘Join the Army‘. The actual copies of the comic arrived this week too which is a relief. The launch exhibition will be from the 25th to the 27th Oct, more details here, if you want to come to the private view, drop me an email. #BeTheMeat #Military
ROYAL MARINES OBSTACLE TRAINING COURSE
The Royal Marines obstacle training course is the toughest obstacle course on the planet. Very few make it past the sack race stage. This is from the mini-comic that comes with the deluxe edition of Join the Army. You can pre-order it here. #Military #BeTheMeat
BE THE MEAT
Here’s something from an army recruitment leaflet I’ve been working on which you should be able to own in real life in a few weeks time. #BeTheMeat #Military
IT’S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN
#violenceweek Printable version available for free here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/35524529/ViolenceWeek2012_300DPI.jpg #Military #Dystopia
SHINY SHINY MEDALS
UPDATE: included in my Join the Army comic.
ROYAL NAVY – LIFE WITH LIMITS
The new Royal Navy recruitment advert taken to it’s logical conclusion. See also my anti-army recruitment comic.
