Despair, Inc.

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Despair, Inc.
Private
Founded 1998[1]
Headquarters Austin, Texas, USA
Area served
International
Key people
E.L. Kersten, Ph.D. (co-founder)
Products "Demotivators": Posters, calendars, misc.
Slogan
-(
Website www.despair.com

Despair, Inc is a company based in Austin, Texas, that produces posters and souvenirs that satirize the motivational indoctrination common in corporate environments.[2][3][4][5]

They are known for their cynical and ironic "Demotivator" items, which parody the grandiose imagery and solemn language of Successories, a range of motivational products. Examples:

  • MEETINGS: None of us is as dumb as all of us.
  • BLAME: The secret to success is knowing who to blame for your failures.
  • DREAMS: Dreams are like rainbows. Only idiots chase them.

On the company website, each "Demotivator" is followed by a list of individuals who the company feels would be a perfect candidate for the item (this does not apply to all their offerings). A running gag is that the category "Disaffected College Students" (or a variant thereof) is included as the last candidate in most listings.

Other works

File:Despair, Inc product.jpg
Photo of merchandise inside Despair, Inc.'s Austin warehouse.

In 2000, Despair, Inc. obtained a registered trademark in the USA for the familiar frowny emoticon :-( when used on "greeting cards, posters and art prints". In 2001, they issued a satirical press release, announcing that they would sue "anyone and everyone who uses the so-called 'frowny' emoticon, or our trademarked logo, in their written email correspondence. Ever."[6]

In 2005, Despair, Inc. published The Art of Demotivation by E.L. Kersten, Ph.D., a former professor of organizational communication, co-founder and currently frontman of Despair, Inc. It is a spoof of the management guru book genre and features 18 stylized renderings of Demotivators to illustrate the points. The book comes in three editions including a $1,195.00 Chairman edition. In 2006, the Harvard Business Review published a serious essay on the nature of work and self-fulfillment by Kersten: "Let Me Take You Down".[7]

See also

  • Demotywatory.pl, a Polish entertainment website devoted to satire, including a comprehensive collection of demotivational posters
  • Life is good, a lifestyle brand best known for its optimistic T-shirts and merchandise

References

  1. http://www.despair.com/spin.html
  2. "At the Whiteboard: Signs of a demotivated workforce" ZDnet ZDNet
  3. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. thatotherpaper Article About Despair, Inc. and sister company Amplifier
  6. [1] Archived March 31, 2005 at the Wayback Machine
  7. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links