Reaction
There was a widespread feeling, even while the campaign was going on, that it was fundamentally risible. New Statesman columnist Philip French thought its "jingoism and intellectual dishonesty" was offensive and felt that the excessive press coverage defied comment "other than the gesture of laughing at" it. The magazine itself ran a one-off column, to go with its long-established "This England" column, featuring press cuttings highlighting absurd aspects of the campaign. The Communist Morning Star newspaper published a parody of the Maxwell advert which claimed to be "non-political, non-partisan and nonsensical" and proclaimed the support of nonsense poets Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll. Paul McCartney thought the campaign was ridiculous and it inspired him to write a song called "I'm Backing the UK", which eventually became "Back in the U.S.S.R." on 'The White Album'. At the conclusion of the film 'Carry On... Up the Khyber', made during the summer and opening in November 1968, the raising of a Union Flag with the "I'm Backing Britain" slogan is greeted by Peter Butterworth turning to camera and saying "Of course, they're all raving mad, you know!".
Read more about this topic: I'm Backing Britain
Famous quotes containing the word reaction:
“In a land which is fully settled, most men must accept their local environment or try to change it by political means; only the exceptionally gifted or adventurous can leave to seek his fortune elsewhere. In America, on the other hand, to move on and make a fresh start somewhere else is still the normal reaction to dissatisfaction and failure.”
—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)
“Christianity was only a very strong and singularly well-timed Salvation Army movement that happened to receive help from an unusual and highly dramatic incident. It was a Puritan reaction in an age when, no doubt, a Puritan reaction was much wanted; but like all sudden violent reactions, it soon wanted reacting against.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)
“Children, randomly at first, hit upon something sooner or later that is their mother’s and/or father’s Achilles’ heel, a kind of behavior that especially upsets, offends, irritates or embarrasses them. One parent dislikes name-calling, another teasing...another bathroom jokes. For the parents, this behavior my have ties back to their childhood, many have been something not allowed, forbidden, and when it appears in the child, it causes high-voltage reaction in the parent.”
—Ellen Galinsky (20th century)