War is Over!

War Is Over! If You Want It 1969

On December 15, 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono launched an international advertising campaign for peace in twelve of the world’s major cities: Athens, Berlin, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Montreal, New York, Paris, Port of Spain (Trinidad and Tobago), Rome, Tokyo and Toronto. Huge billboards in each national language went up in strategic locations, proclaiming “WAR IS OVER! If you want it. Happy Christmas from John & Yoko.” The format varied with the available space, ranging from immense billboards in New York’s Times Square to posters and handout flyers, all bearing the same message. The campaign kicked off with the “Peace for Christmas” benefit for UNICEF at London’s Lyceum Theatre on that same December 15, with the Plastic Ono Band assembling George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann and Keith Moon of the Who for the occasion. The following day, John Lennon and Yoko Ono took the peace campaign to Toronto, and met with Canadian prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. On December 21, an ad with their “war is over” message appeared in the New York Times. The “War Is Over” peace campaign continued in 1971 with the song “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” recorded with the children of the Harlem Community Choir. Again taking up the “war is over! If you want it” message in its chorus, it was a worldwide hit. No longer a simple example of artistic expression, the song has gone down in history as a radical action, a manifesto of politically committed art, a precursor of artist Jenny Holzer’s advertising sign aphorisms criticizing consumer society and the work of Barbara Kruger, among others.