Greenpeace badges & postcards

Greenpeace has a long history of making badges and postcards from its inception to the current day.

Greenpeace has a long history of making badges and postcards from its inception in the 1970s to the present day. These objects are both activist tools and cultural artefacts, showing how environmental campaigning has been communicated in bold, creative ways.

Environmental trailblazers 🌊🌍

Greenpeace were true trailblazers in the world of environmental badges and postcards. While CND had already shown how a simple symbol could galvanise a movement, Greenpeace took the form to new heights — making small, wearable images into powerful emotional tools. Their badges and postcards didn’t just spread slogans; they told stories of whales, seal pups, forests, and ships under attack, giving abstract environmental issues a face the public could not ignore.

From the mid-1970s, they pioneered designs that deliberately sparked empathy and outrage: the wide-eyed seal pup became a global rallying point, the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior turned into a badge of defiance, and countless whale images turned marine conservation into an urgent moral cause. These small artefacts made Greenpeace campaigns visible in schools, on jackets, at concerts, and on city streets, embedding environmental protest into everyday culture.

Just as they were inspired by CND, Greenpeace in turn inspired others. Companies like The Body Shop and countless peace and green groups adopted the same strategy — pairing striking visual imagery with emotive, memorable text to convey their message. In this way, Greenpeace not only defined the visual language of environmental protest but helped set the template for how modern activism communicates.

Because of this, Greenpeace stands alongside CND as one of the most influential producers of badges and postcards in activist history — and arguably the most prolific in the environmental sphere. Their ephemera form one of the largest collections in the badger4peace archive, reflecting how imagery and design can translate activism into public identity and shared memory.

Design evolution and symbolism 🎨✨

Early Greenpeace badges and postcards often featured the handwritten-style logo, reportedly first sketched by Patrick Garaude in 1980. This informal logo captured the grassroots energy of the group. Over the years, campaign symbols — whales, seals, rainbows, doves, and forests — dominated both media. Postcards in particular offered a bigger canvas, mixing photography with slogans, often highlighting frontline campaigns or dramatic protest imagery. Bright colours and strong visuals became central to Greenpeace’s identity.

Campaigns through the decades ⏳🐋

1970s – Anti-Whaling and Nuclear Testing

Greenpeace’s earliest badges showed whales or carried “Save the Whales” slogans, while postcards spread images of protest ships confronting whalers or nuclear test vessels in the Pacific. They made distant struggles feel immediate.

1976–1979 – Save the Seals

The “Save the Seals” campaign used emotive images of whitecoat pups on both badges and postcards. These visuals mobilised global outrage and were key to securing public opposition to commercial sealing.

1985 – Rainbow Warrior

After the bombing of Greenpeace’s ship in Auckland harbour, badges with slogans like “You Can’t Sink a Rainbow” appeared. Postcards showed the damaged ship and portraits of Fernando Pereira, the photographer killed in the attack. These items became powerful emblems of solidarity and resistance.

1990s – Climate and Forests

As the climate debate grew, badges appeared with slogans such as “Stop Climate Chaos” and “Protect the Amazon.” Postcards often highlighted deforestation, with striking photographs of tree felling, fires, and Indigenous land defenders. These designs turned environmental crises into urgent, human stories.

2000s – Oceans and Arctic Protection

Campaigns to safeguard the Arctic and global oceans produced badges with polar bears, waves, and slogans like “Save the Arctic.” Postcards reinforced the message with dramatic photography — icebergs, Greenpeace inflatables facing off against oil rigs, and underwater marine life.

2010s–2020s – Fossil Fuels and Plastics

Modern Greenpeace badges focus on fossil fuel divestment and plastic pollution, using messages like “No Future in Fossil Fuels” and “Break Free from Plastic.” Postcards have shown images of beach clean-ups, oil spills, and plastic-choked oceans, designed to shock but also to inspire action.

Cultural symbols 🌀🐉

Greenpeace has often drawn on wider cultural references in its design. The Sisiutl, a double-headed sea serpent from Pacific Northwest Indigenous culture, was gifted to Greenpeace during its first anti-nuclear voyage and has occasionally featured on postcards and badges. Rainbows, too, became a defining symbol after the naming of the Rainbow Warrior. These cultural motifs gave Greenpeace imagery a sense of depth, myth, and solidarity across traditions.

Badges and postcards as cultural tools 🌐✊

Both badges and postcards were more than campaign merchandise — they were conversation starters and tools of education. A badge pinned to a jacket or a postcard on a noticeboard extended the reach of Greenpeace’s message far beyond a single protest. They turned private conviction into public witness. Collectively, they map the evolution of environmental activism over the last fifty years.

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