{"id":19859,"date":"2025-06-10T14:19:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T18:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.expo67.museum\/2025\/06\/deux-idees-simples-dexpo-67-qui-perdurent-dans-les-expositions-universelles\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T23:17:50","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T03:17:50","slug":"two-simple-ideas-from-expo-67-that-still-live-on-in-world-expos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.expo67.museum\/en\/2025\/06\/two-simple-ideas-from-expo-67-that-still-live-on-in-world-expos\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Simple Ideas from Expo 67\u2026 That Still Live On in World Expos"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Expo 67 in Montr\u00e9al is often summed up in numbers: over 50 million visitors, 61 participating countries, and six months of excitement. But beyond the spectacular event, two small ideas born in Montr\u00e9al quietly shaped the experience of future world expositions. Simple, yet brilliant ideas: the stamp passport, and the word \u201cExpo\u201d itself.<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The Visa Passport: Travelling from Pavilion to Pavilion<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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At Expo 67, the admission ticket took the form of a passport with a photo for those who chose a season pass or a 7-day pass. At each pavilion visited, guests could have a personalized stamp added \u2014 often designed by the host country itself.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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This gesture quickly became a ritual. Collecting stamps and filling every page of one\u2019s passport was a way of travelling the world without ever leaving the Expo grounds. This tangible keepsake, as symbolic as it was fun, left a lasting impression on generations of visitors. Some stamps have become true trophies among collectors.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The rarest of them all? The one from Saint Kitts\u2013Nevis\u2013Anguilla, stamped only on August 3, 1967, during a presence at Expo 67 that was as official as it was fleeting. With support from Air Canada \u2014 which serviced Anguilla at the time \u2014 and the approval of Commissioner General Pierre Dupuy, the Caribbean territory was able to host a one-day mini-pavilion (or rather, a kiosk) at the entrance to the Air Canada pavilion.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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All day long, Miss Barbara Walton, representative of the delegation, welcomed visitors and stamped what would become the rarest visa of the entire Expo. A fleeting but very real presence \u2014 one that adds a mythical touch to the 1967 passports.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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La presse, 4 ao\u00fbt 1967, Pages corrig\u00e9es<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The concept caught on. Starting with Expo 70 in Osaka, and then in nearly every subsequent exposition, including the one in 2025, the stamp passport became an essential tradition. Even today, it remains a central part of the experience.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\"Passeport
Passeport Expo 2025, Osaka<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/a><\/div>
\"Passeport
Passeport Expo 2020, Duba\u00ef<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/a><\/div>
\"Passeport
Passeport Expo 2017, Astana<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/a><\/div>
\"Passeport
Passeport Expo 2015, Milan<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/a><\/div>
\"Passeport
Passeport Expo 2012, Yeosu<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/a><\/div>
\"Passeport
Passeport Expo 2010, Shanghai<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/a><\/div>
\"Passeport
Passeport Expo 2008, Saragosse<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/a><\/div>
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Passeport Expo 2005, Aichi<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/a><\/div>
\"Passeport
Passeport Expo 2000, Hannovre<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/a><\/div>
\"Passeport
Passeport Expo 98, Lisbonne<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/a><\/div>
\"Passeport
Passeport Expo 92, S\u00e9ville<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/a><\/div>
\"Passeport
Passeport Expo 88, Brisbane<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/a><\/div>
\"Passeport
Passeport Expo 86, Vancouver<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/a><\/div>
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Passeport Expo 85, Tsukuba<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/a><\/div>
\"Passeport
Passeport Expo 82, Knoxville<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/a><\/div>
\"Passeport
Passeport Expo 70, Osaka<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/a><\/div>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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The \u201cExpo\u201d Brand: From Nickname to Official Name<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Before Montreal, the terms \u201cworld\u2019s fair\u201d or \u201cinternational exposition\u201d were more commonly used \u2014 as in Brussels in 1958, sometimes nicknamed \u201cExpo 58\u201d by the media, though never officially. The Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) continued to use very formal terminology.<\/p>

It was in Montreal, with the 1967 Universal and International Exhibition, that the word \u201cExpo\u201d became an official, fully embraced title. Expo 67 \u2014 one short word and a number, a graphic punch: easy to remember and distinctly modern.
This choice was anything but trivial \u2014 and far from unanimously welcomed.<\/p>

From the very first promotional campaigns, the word \u201cExpo\u201d stirred some resistance, particularly among English-speaking Canadians. Some circles preferred the full term \u201cUniversal and International Exhibition\u201d to align with official conventions, or simply \u201cWorld\u2019s Fair.\u201d Others felt \u201cExpo\u201d sounded too French \u2014 and meaningless in English.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\"I waged a three-year battle with the Gazette and the Montr\u00e9al Star who fought hard to get Expo to change its name to Montr\u00e9al's World Fair. For two of those years we were in direct conflict with the New York World's Fair, still the Montr\u00e9al English speaking journalists fought Expo tooth and nail, saying that Expo sounded like a new brand of cigarette, that Expo did not convey the significance of an Exhibition, etc.\"\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tYves Jasmin, private interview quoted on expo67.ncf.ca<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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But French speakers, especially Pierre Dupuy\u2019s team, with him serving as Commissioner General of Expo, defended the use of a simple, catchy, neutral, and identity-affirming word. \u201cExpo\u201d quickly became an effective linguistic compromise, a term everyone could embrace. It was adopted in visual branding, advertising, tickets, transportation, and more.<\/p>

Given its success, the 1970 World Exposition in Osaka officially adopted the shortened name \u201cExpo 70,\u201d with the approval of the BIE. While the long form remained official for protocol purposes, no subsequent exposition returned to the older terminology in everyday communication. \u201cExpo\u201d became a global brand, born, or at least cemented, in Montr\u00e9al.<\/p>

It just goes to show that a small communications decision can change language, and even history.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Expo 67 in Montr\u00e9al is often summed up in numbers: over 50 million visitors, 61 participating countries, and six months of excitement. But beyond the spectacular event, two small ideas born in Montr\u00e9al quietly shaped the experience of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1302],"tags":[1114,1115,1116,1117,1118,1119,1120],"class_list":["post-19859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-expos-en","tag-etampe-en","tag-expo-en","tag-identite-en","tag-marque-en","tag-passeport-en","tag-tampon-en","tag-visa-en"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expo67.museum\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expo67.museum\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expo67.museum\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expo67.museum\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expo67.museum\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19859"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.expo67.museum\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21422,"href":"https:\/\/www.expo67.museum\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19859\/revisions\/21422"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expo67.museum\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expo67.museum\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expo67.museum\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expo67.museum\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}