Catalogue Number
NMLH.2022.276
Object Name
Postcard
Date
1979
Description
Yellow postcard with black text and a cartoon image. The text reads "Low Profile High Risk. They'll take your breath away." Underneath this there is an image of a box, which looks like a packet of cigarettes. Inside this box there are images of missiles. The text on the box says "H.M Government 'Defence Policy.'" The text at the bottom of the postcard reads "warning: HM government defence policy can seriously damage your health." The reverse side of the postcard has the title "Take your breath away by Paul Morton", as well as further information explaining the postcard. This says "Millions of pounds per year are spent on advertising cigarettes. How much is spent on advertising life and sanity? You are your own civil defence. Your defence is action against the policy that makes you a target. Advertise the fact by joining CND." This postcard is asking people to join the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. There is a Leeds postcard logo - Leeds Postcards was founded in 1979, with the intention of using postcards âas a political tool and agent for changeâ.
They quickly became well-known, producing some iconic work with activist groups such as the Medical Campaign Against Nuclear Weapons (MCANW) and CND branches across the country, and artists including Peter Kennard and Steve Bell. They are still publishing postcards today.
Throughout the 1980s, Leeds Postcards published a number of cards satirising the threat of nuclear war, and celebrating the movement against the bomb.
