Cartoon characters against the bomb badges

Peace badges featuring cartoon characters used humour and popular imagery to challenge nuclear weapons and win hearts to the anti-war cause.

A light-hearted look at a serious issue

In the often heavy world of anti-nuclear activism, some campaigners turned to cartoons and humour to carry their message. Badges featuring cartoon characters—sometimes familiar, sometimes entirely original—became a playful but pointed way to say “No” to nuclear weapons. While the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is best known for its iconic peace symbol, many of its local groups and allies created badges that blended satire, innocence, and protest.

These badges weren’t just decoration. They were conversation starters, morale boosters, and visual challenges to the grim logic of deterrence. Children wore them proudly on school bags; punks pinned them to jackets. In a cold war climate dominated by fear, these tiny artworks offered warmth, laughter, and hope.

The characters who stood for peace

Badges from the 1970s and 80s featured a variety of cartoon figures: from hand-drawn doves with defiant expressions, to cheerful skeletons declaring “Nuclear War? No thanks!” Some badges repurposed well-known characters in clever ways—like a version of the Mr Men with “Mr Disarmament” holding a broken missile, or a Snoopy-style dog holding a peace banner.

These designs often emerged from local groups, art students, or community print shops supporting the movement. While unofficial, they were embraced by the broader peace community. One badge from a youth peace camp featured a smiley bomb being hugged by a teddy bear—both absurd and arresting. The blending of childlike imagery with deadly seriousness created a visual tension that made people stop and think.

Badge-making as counterculture

These cartoon-themed badges formed part of a broader DIY culture that flourished in the peace movement. Making and swapping badges was an act of creative resistance—low-cost, accessible, and personal. Many were sold at stalls outside meetings, gigs, or festivals, with proceeds going back into campaigning.

Badge collecting itself became a form of identity and solidarity. Wearing a badge was not passive—it was a daily act of witness. And for many, cartoon badges helped ease people into the conversation, offering an accessible on-ramp to the larger, more complex issues of nuclear proliferation and militarism.

Legacy and inspiration

While fewer cartoon badges are made today, the tradition has not disappeared. Artists continue to use humour and illustration in peace campaigns, especially in digital spaces. The badge as a medium still endures, and some original designs have found their way into museum collections and peace archives, reminding us of the creativity that once animated the streets.

In an age of digital activism, there is still something potent about a small, physical object pinned to a jacket—a tiny flag for a peaceful world. And if it makes someone smile and think at the same time, all the better.

Badges

Coming soon.

YQN