page_title: Remembrance poppy
section_title: United Kingdom
hierarchical_section_title: Remembrance poppy / Usage / United Kingdom
caption_attribution_description: The Poppy Appeal Poppy, purchased in Northern Ireland.
context_page_description: The remembrance poppy is an artificial flower sold by veteran's associations to raise money for servicemen and servicewomen.
  The modern Remembrance Poppy has been trademarked by veteran's associations in many jurisdictions, particularly in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth nations, where sales fund the associations' services. Small remembrance poppies are often worn on clothing leading up to Remembrance Day/Armistice Day, and poppy wreaths are often laid at war memorials. In Australia and New Zealand, they are also worn on Anzac Day.
  The "Originator of Poppy Day", Madame Guérin, raised funds during World War I for widows, orphans, veterans, U.S. Liberty bonds, and charities such as the Red Cross and Food for France.
  After the Armistice that ended World War I, the French government formed "La Ligue des Enfants de France et d’Amérique", a charity which used a poppy as its emblem. Madame Guérin created the American branch of this charity, called the "American and French Children’s League". Many organizations adopted the poppy as their memorial flower after World War I ended, and in 1919, Madame Guérin established Poppy Days, under the auspices of her charity.
context_section_description: In the United Kingdom, Remembrance Poppies are sold by The Royal British Legion (RBL). This is a charity providing financial, social, political, and emotional support to those who have served or who are currently serving in the British Armed Forces and their dependents. They are sold on the streets by volunteers in the weeks before Remembrance Day. The Remembrance Poppy is the trademark of The Royal British Legion. The RBL states, "The red poppy is our registered mark and its only lawful use is to raise funds for the Poppy Appeal," its yearly fundraising drive in the weeks before Remembrance Day. The organization says these poppies are "worn to commemorate the sacrifices of our Armed Forces and to show support to those still serving today." Other poppy merchandise is sold throughout the year as part of ongoing fundraising.
  In England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, the poppies typically have two red paper petals mounted on a green plastic stem with a single green paper leaf and a prominent black plastic central boss. The stem has an additional branch used as a pin to anchor the poppy in the lapel or buttonhole. In Scotland, the poppies are curled and have four petals with no leaf. The yearly sale of poppies is a major source of income for the RBL in the UK. The poppy has no fixed price; it is sold for a donation or the price may be suggested by the seller. The black plastic center of the poppy was marked "Haig Fund" until 1994 but is now marked "Poppy Appeal." A team of about 50 people—primarily disabled former British military personnel—work year round to make millions of poppies at the Poppy Factory in Richmond. Scottish poppies are made in the Lady Haig's Poppy Factory in Edinburgh.
  For years after World War I, poppies were worn only on Remembrance Day. Today the RBL's "Poppy Appeal" has a higher profile than other charity appeals in the UK. The pins are widespread from late October until mid-November every year and are worn by the general public, politicians, the Royal Family and other public figures. It has become common to see large poppies on buses, tube trains and airplanes, as well as on lampposts, billboards, public buildings, and landmarks. Many newspapers and magazines show a poppy on their cover page, and some social network users add poppies to their avatars. Each year, an official Poppy Appeal single has been released. Remembrance Poppy sellers are found on streets and at numerous public events such as concerts, fairs, marathons and competitions. Other awareness raising events have initiated. For example, in 2011, a Second World War aeroplane dropped 6,000 poppies over the town of Yeovil in Somerset. In 2014, the dry moat of the Tower of London was covered with 888,246 ceramic poppies – one for each soldier of the British Empire killed in World War I.
  There has been growing controversy over the Poppy Appeal. Some—including British Army veterans—have argued that the Poppy Appeal has become excessive, and that it is being used to marshal support for British military activities and that poppy wearing has become compulsory for public figures. Channel 4 newsreader Jon Snow described it as "poppy fascism". Columnist Dan O'Neill wrote that "presenters and politicians seem to compete in a race to be first – poppies start sprouting in mid-October while the absence of a poppy is interpreted as absence of concern for the war dead, almost as an unpatriotic act of treachery." Likewise, Jonathan Bartley of the religious think-tank Ekklesia said "Public figures in Britain are urged, indeed in many cases, required, to wear ... the red poppy, almost as an article of faith. There is a political correctness about the red poppy." Journalist Robert Fisk complained that the poppy has become a seasonal "fashion accessory" and that people were "ostentatiously wearing a poppy for social or work-related reasons, to look patriotic when it suited them." Some far-right groups have used the poppy as a symbol of militant British nationalism, while some Muslims have begun to reject it as a symbol of Western imperialism.
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caption: Remembrance poppies distributed by the Royal British Legion in England, Northern Ireland, and Wales includes paper petals on a green plastic stem
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