When you see peace signs, like those pinned to the graduation caps in the image above, what comes to mind? Does the symbol mean anything to you? Why do you think the students in the photograph might have been wearing it?
Are there any signs, symbols or emojis that you could see the students in your graduating class wearing in unison one day? Is there one image that you think best represents your generation?
In “Does the Peace Sign Stand a Chance?” Michael Rock, a founder of a design studio who also teaches brand strategy at the Yale School of Management, writes about the evolution of the peace sign:
The signs and symbols that designate our beliefs and affiliations are slippery. While the Christian cross, the Islamic star and crescent, the Jewish Star of David and their copyrighted, vigorously litigated corporate equivalents — swooshes, apples and targets — may prove resilient, a dizzying mix of familiar and newly minted graphic devices now compete for our dwindling attention.
These days there is no movement without messaging. Even anarchy has a brand identity, its scratchy circled A logo has migrated from your corner lamppost to a pair of Converse Chuck Taylor Anarchy-edition All-Stars. From the pink hats of the Women’s March to the red hats of the Capitol raid, rainbows to thin blue lines, salute emojis to watermelon emojis, we are navigating a thicket of improvised graphic devices.
Then there is the case of the peace sign. Originally devised in the late 1950s by the activist and designer Gerald Holtom as a symbol for the British antinuclear proliferation movement, the ubiquitous divided circle mark — derived by overlapping the flag-semaphore signals for the letters N and D to stand for Nuclear Disarmament — itself quickly proliferated as an open-source logo for global antiwar and counterculture movements.
From its inception Mr. Holtom insisted that his mark remain forever in the public domain. But without the protections of centuries-old institutional traditions or menacing cease-and-desist letters, symbols are vulnerable to appropriation. Since no one owns the peace sign, it can be leveraged for whatever by whomever. (Looking at you, Craigslist.) Even by the early 1970s, the once highly charged peace symbol was devolving into an anodyne lifestyle and fashion motif akin to a smiley face.
Mr. Rock also includes what his current students think of the peace sign:
A highly unscientific survey of my Gen Z students and colleagues suggests that after decades of relentless commodification, younger generations may have lost the thread. The typical associations I heard — “hippie,” “Venice Beach,” “someone pretty easygoing and kind of disconnected,” “coexist” and “slacker” — sounded more like a marketer’s kombucha psychographic than a radical revolutionary.
“I take one look at the peace sign, and it feels really dated and meaningless,” Gabby Uy, a 22-year-old college junior, told me. “It reminds me of being in elementary school, and this was on everybody’s water bottles or T-shirts, and the world seemed a lot simpler than it actually is.”
“I wouldn’t consider it progressive or anything,” Ben Gertner, a 21-year-old college senior, concurred. “It’s more of an antiquated symbol of ‘just getting along’ — a kind of neutral blanket statement against war and violence.”
“When I see the symbol, my first thought is always a capitalist trinket of sorts,” said Kali Flanagan, 19. While that may sound cynical, the connection to marketing is not entirely surprising considering this is a generation whose first encounter with the mark may have been being swaddled in peace-sign-patterned onesies or fed a bowl of Annie’s Organic Peace Pasta & Parmesan before going on to wear an Urban Outfitters Peace Crochet Bucket Hat, a pair of Vans Old Skool Peace Paisley slip-ons or even a Tiffany platinum and diamond peace pendant.
One might be tempted to think that after decades in service of selling fast fashion, the peace sign is impossibly debased. But while some may dismiss it as anachronistic, others find it retains some of its original poignancy.
“It is relevant to me,” Elizabeth Olshanetsky, 23, another college senior, said. “Two parts of my identity are currently war-torn: Jewish and having lots of family in Israel, and my parents growing up in the Soviet Union and us still having family in Ukraine and Russia.” Context still matters.
Students, read the entire article and then tell us:
Before reading the article, did you know the origins of the peace sign? If not, where did you think it came from and what did you think it represented? Does learning about its history make you see it differently now?
“These days there is no movement without messaging,” Mr. Rock writes. What visual messages do you see in present-day movements? For example, if you’ve attended or seen video footage from protests, marches, demonstrations, parades or picket lines, what slogans and symbols have you seen emblazoned on the signs that people carried? What emojis have you observed being used in social media campaigns? How effective are these images at helping to spread the intended message?
Why do you think that images and graphics can hold so much power when it comes to spurring a movement or communicating ideas and beliefs?
Do you have a favorite symbol? Maybe it’s one that you like to draw over and over, or a brand logo that you admire, or an emoji that you use often. Why do you like it? What does it mean to you?
Is there anything that you wish had a symbol that doesn’t? If you designed that symbol, what would it look like? What would it represent? How would the symbol convey its meaning? How do you see it being used?
One might argue that if there was any symbol that best represented the ’60s and ’70s, it was the peace sign. If you had to chose a sign, symbol, emoji or some other image to represent your generation, what would it be? What does it say about you and your peers — your experiences, your interests, your hopes and your worries?
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.
Find more Student Opinion questions here. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate these prompts into your classroom.
