Lapel badges were manufactured and printed cheaply in their thousands. They were sold - or often given away - for a wide variety of purposes. Some advertised bands and their records, or other products, but many were created to promote ideas and political causes, or simply to give amusement through the use of original images and provocative slogans.

Barry Miles, from whom these badges were acquired, was a key figure in the London underground scene in the 1960s. He was a founder of the Indica Bookshop, the underground newspaper 'International Times' and was involved in the setting up of the UFO, an all night club originally set up to provide funds for the 'International Times'. This body of material came into his collection because of his involvement in these activities in the 1960s.