This very unusual Olympic poster celebrates International Youth Camp, an unofficial tradition started by King Gustav V at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. The headline and main logo may seem a bit lost in the denim, but that’s fine, because the main event is the button collection. Each pin is a code, speaking to youth culture and values (“love, equality of the sexes, return to nature, the search for spiritual values, personal harmony, and the need for brotherhood”) – the harmonica in the pocket is a nice detail too. Interesting concept and very well executed.
Comments
J. ScottSeptember 20, 2008
not unlike the cover for the super friendz record ‘love energy.’
Mark Sean KershawApril 3, 2009
This poster has long been a favourite as it represents a Canada, a Quebec, and a Montreal now seemingly lost to us. Yes, the country embraces (and officially sanctions) many of the ideals coded in the buttons (peace keeping, unity, gender equity, etc.) but the zeitgeist/esprit/mood/sensibility of the poster belongs to another age – so informal,unpretentious. You’d never get something like this today (not busy enough, no sense of motion, too much to have to “read into and that pot leaf?). The Vancouver Olympic posters are attractive but, gosh, are they busy – so many micro-points of focus for our famished (but somehow lazy) eyes! Truly a sign of the times!