Motivational poster
Encyclopedia
Poster
A poster is any piece of printed paper designed to be attached to a wall or vertical surface. Typically posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text. Posters are designed to be both eye-catching and informative. Posters may be...
commonly designed for use in school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
s and office
Office
An office is generally a room or other area in which people work, but may also denote a position within an organization with specific duties attached to it ; the latter is in fact an earlier usage, office as place originally referring to the location of one's duty. When used as an adjective, the...
s.
Intent
The intent of motivational posters is to make people achieve more, or to think differently about the things that they may be learning or doing. This is not how everyone views such posters, however. Art Petty, for example, in discussing innovation writes that it "cannot be mandated or legislated, and it definitely is not inspired by the corporate motivational poster".Effects
Motivational posters can have behavioral effects. For example, Mutrie and Blamey, of the University of GlasgowUniversity of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...
and the Greater Glasgow Health Board, found in one study that their placement of a motivational poster that promotes stair use in front of an escalator
Escalator
An escalator is a moving staircase – a conveyor transport device for carrying people between floors of a building. The device consists of a motor-driven chain of individual, linked steps that move up or down on tracks, allowing the step treads to remain horizontal.Escalators are used around the...
and a parallel staircase, in an underground station, doubled the amount of stair use. These studies all support the finding that such motivational posters, placed at the point of decision, can have a behavioral effect, with this effect decreasing back to zero gradually over a period of weeks after the removal of the poster.
Parodies and demotivational posters
This kind of poster has been repeatedly parodiedParody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
, and parody motivational posters have become an Internet meme
Internet meme
The term Internet meme is used to describe a concept that spreads via the Internet. The term is a reference to the concept of memes, although the latter concept refers to a much broader category of cultural information.-Description:...
. One famous motivational poster features a kitten hanging from a tree branch along with the phrase "Hang in There, Baby!
Hang in there, Baby
Hang in there, Baby was a popular catchphrase made by a motivational poster. The poster featured a picture of a small kitten, hanging on to a tree branch. It has since become a popular relic of the 1970s...
" This has been the target of various reproductions and parodies, such as an appearance on The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
episode "The Twisted World of Marge Simpson
The Twisted World of Marge Simpson
"The Twisted World of Marge Simpson" is the eleventh episode of the The Simpsons eighth season, which originally aired January 19, 1997. It was written by Jennifer Crittenden and directed by Chuck Sheetz. The episode guest stars Jack Lemmon as Frank Ormand and Joe Mantegna as Fat Tony...
" where Marge Simpson
Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
notices the copyright date (1968) and comments, "...determined or not, that cat must be long dead. That's kind of a downer." Another reference to the poster is The Onion
The Onion
The Onion is an American news satire organization. It is an entertainment newspaper and a website featuring satirical articles reporting on international, national, and local news, in addition to a non-satirical entertainment section known as The A.V. Club...
s 1999 "In the News" photograph titled "Inspirational Poster Kitten Falls To Death After 17 Years".
Despair, Inc.
Despair, Inc.
Despair, Inc is a company based in Austin, Texas, that produces posters and souvenirs that satirize the motivational indoctrination common in corporate environments....
has made a business out of such parody and cynical posters, with demotivational posters ranging from a picture of a tree bent over by wind with the caption "ADVERSITY: That which does not kill me postpones the inevitable." to a picture of a sinking ship with the caption "MISTAKES: It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others."