Fifty years ago on Easter Sunday, Gerald Holtom, a graphic artist in England concerned with nuclear proliferation created a symbol based on the semiphore signs for “n” and “d”. Some accounts also credit Bertram Russell with encouraging Holtom.

At any rate, the symbol that we all know now to stand for “Peace” originally stood for nuclear disarmament. And sorry to all of my “70’s” friends, the anit-war movement against Viet Nam did not create this symbol. It was created in 1958, and was not trademarked on purpose so that anyone who agreed with disarmament could use the symbol freely.

Think of this as a brand symbol for an “attitude” and you can see how important the concept of brand can be, and how it is not limited to commercial endeavors.