Demotivators

Despair, Inc., which brought us BitterSweets for Valentine’s Day, also does a nice line in Demotivators, which are posters satirising the motivation industry – all that Seven Habits of Highly Effective People stuff. Here is the sales pitch:

Motivation. Psychology tells us that motivation – true, lasting motivation – can only come from within. Common sense tells us it can't be manufactured or productized. So how is it that a multi-billion dollar industry thrives through the sale of motivational commodities and services? Because, in our world of instant gratification, people desperately want to believe that there are simple solutions to complex problems. And when desperation has disposable income, market opportunities abound.

At Despair, Inc., we believe motivational products create unrealistic expectations, raising hopes only to dash them. That's why we created our soul-crushingly depressing Demotivators® designs, so you can skip the delusions that motivational products induce and head straight for the disappointments that follow!

And they are depressingly demotivational, with more than a whiff of Lemony Snicket about them. For example:

DREAMS: Dreams are like rainbows. Only idiots chase them.

ECONOMICS: The science of explaining tomorrow why the predictions you made yesterday didn’t come true today.

FEAR: Until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore, you will not know the terror of being forever lost at sea.

GOVERNMENT: If you think the problems we create are bad, just wait until you see our solutions.

INDIVIDUALITY: Always remember that you are unique. Just like everybody else.

LOSING: If at first you don’t succeed, failure may be your style.

PRESSURE: It can turn a lump of coal into a flawless diamond, or an average person into a perfect basketcase.

PROCRASTINATION: Hard work often pays off after time, but laziness always pays off now.

The best have a brilliant match of image and text: for example, “Limitations: Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk” which is illustrated with a photo of a penguin And these:



See the full set here.