Despair, Inc is a company based in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

, that produces posters and

souvenir A souvenir (), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and transported home by the traveler as a m ...

s that satirize the motivational indoctrination common in corporate environments. They are known for their

cynical Cynicism is an attitude characterized by a general distrust of the motives of "others". A cynic may have a general lack of faith or hope in people motivated by ambition, desire, greed, gratification, materialism, goals, and opinions that a cynic ...

and

ironic Irony (), in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what on the surface appears to be the case and what is actually the case or to be expected; it is an important rhetorical device and literary technique. Irony can be categorized into ...

"Demotivator" items, which

parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...

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 A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling. Though they are similar, catchphrases are no ...

is that the category "Disaffected College Students" (or a variant thereof) is included as the last candidate in most listings.

Other works

In 2000, Despair, Inc. obtained a registered trademark in the USA for the familiar frowny

emoticon An emoticon (, , rarely , ), short for "emotion icon", also known simply as an emote, is a pictorial representation of a facial expression using characters—usually punctuation marks, numbers, and letters—to express a person's feelings, ...

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." Despair published ''The Art of Demotivation'' by E.L. Kersten, Ph.D., a former professor of organizational communication and company co-founder, in 2005. 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 2004, the ''

Harvard Business Review ''Harvard Business Review'' (''HBR'') is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harvard University. ''HBR'' is published six times a year and is headquartered in Brighton, Ma ...

'' published a serious essay on the nature of work and self-fulfillment by Kersten: "Let Me Take You Down".

References

External links

Despair, Inc. web site

United States Patent & Trademark Office – Latest status info on :-( trademark
{{Authority control Manufacturing companies based in Austin, Texas American companies established in 1998 Parodies of advertising

Other works

See also

References

External links