War is Over! If you want it Poster – John & Yoko – 1970

War is Over! If you want it Poster – John & Yoko – 1970

This is a fantastic reproduction of the famous War is Over poster originally created for John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Peace Campaign.

Against the backdrop of the ongoing war that raged in Vietnam, John and Yoko planned to marry in the March of 1969. The couple, aware of the publicity that would be generated by their forthcoming wedding, decided to use the publicity to protest against the Vietnam War and promote world peace.

The couple married on March 20, 1969.  For their honeymoon, the pair spent a week between March 25 and 31, in Room 702, the presidential suite, of the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel. It was part of the couple’s plan to peacefully protest against the war. The protest was called Bed-ins for Peace. For the duration of their stay, John and Yoko invited the world’s press into their hotel room every day between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. The press were expecting them to be having sex,  instead, the couple were sitting in bed, wearing pajamas, talking about peace with signs over their bed reading “Hair Peace” and “Bed Peace”.

Their second bed-in took place in Rooms 1738, 1740,1742 and 1744 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel on May 26, 1969. The event received mixed reactions from the American press.

On June 14th, John and Yoko appeared on the David Frost show in England. The footage can be seen on Youtube here. During the interview, Frost asks about Bagism and the Bed-ins and Lennon explain. “We’re trying to sell peace, like a product, you know, and sell it like people sell soap or soft drinks, you know, the only way to get people aware that peace is possible and – It isn’t just inevitable to have violence, not just war, all forms of violence. People just accept it and think ‘Oh, they did it’, or ‘Harold Wilson did it’ or ‘Nixon did it’, they’re always scapegoating people.”

For the next initiative, giant billboards, posters and handbills were plastered across eleven of the world’s major cities including New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Rome and Berlin. When they were unveiled they revealed the message. War is Over! If you want it. Happy Christmas from John and Yoko.

In July 1969, whilst still a member of The Beatles, Lennon released the anti-war song Give Peace a Chance. It was recorded live at The Queen Hotel in Montreal during John and Yoko’s Bed-in protest. The song quickly became the anthem of the anti-Vietnam war. The song was sung by Pete Seeger and half a million demonstrators on Vietnam Moratorium Day, on 15 November 1969.

Lennon and Ono’s protests and anti-war activism seriously concerned the US government and the CIA. The attention the couple’s activism was raising and the sheer amount of people that were responding to the protests was taken so seriously by the US government that Lennon was served with deportation papers by the U.S. Department of Immigration.

Our posters are carefully and professionally created from vintage originals. Whilst great care is taken in the production of these posters, we also try to maintain a vintage feel, so there may be small imperfections, fold marks, scuffs, tears, or marks that were part of the original poster master. If these do appear they should be visible on the larger views of the item on this listing. The originals of many of the posters we offer can cost many thousands of pounds, so whilst these posters look great, especially framed and mounted on a wall, they are intended as fun, affordable reproductions and not intended fine art prints.

The 50x70cm version has been specially produced to be used in conjunction with Ikea’s 50x70cm Ribba picture frame which currently retails for around £12. So you can bag a bargain of print and frame for a great price.