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Despair, Inc.

Type	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.
Website	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.

They are well-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. A running gag is that the category "Disaffected College Students" (or a variant thereof) is included in most listings.

Other works

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."^[2]

In 2005, Despair, Inc. published "The Art of Demotivation" by E.L. Kersten, Ph.D., a former professor of organizational communication and currently the co-founder and 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"^[3].

References

1. ^ http://www.despair.com/spin.html
2. ^ http://www.despair.com/demotivators/misfortunate.html
3. ^ http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b02/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=F0403C

External links

• Despair, Inc. web site
• United States Patent & Trademark Office - Latest status info on :-( trademark
• ZDNet Video - At the Whiteboard: Signs of a demotivated workforce
• Low Flying Fish - A NPR radio documentary on the Motivation Industry and Despair, Inc.
• D.I.Y. Parody Motivator Generator
• Despair, Inc. Company Videos
• CNN Article, "Despair, Inc. - The Brand for Cynics"
• Article About Despair, Inc. and sister company Amplifier