In The New York Times Magazine: Despair.com

Posted by Rob Walker on April 27, 2008
Posted Under: America,Anti,Backlashing,Consumed,Work

EMPOWERING BY DISEMPOWERMENT
How satirizing corporate doublespeak gets a promotion in a time of layoffs.

Despair Inc. It sells scores of posters satirizing the banalities of the motivation industry. The business first became Internet famous a decade ago, but has proved remarkably durable, with sales climbing to around $4.5 million last year.

And possibly its worldview is resonating in a lot of cubicles and offices just about now: the Bureau of Labor Statistics recently calculated that U.S. employers cut 80,000 jobs in March. Meanwhile, Despair’s sales are up about 15 percent this year. “We do see some people are buying because things are getting bad,” says Justin Sewell, a co-founder of Despair. “They’re Googling things like ‘despair’ or ‘failure,’ and we’re popping up.”

Read the column in the April 27, 2008 issue of The New York Times Magazine, or here.

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Reader Comments

I thought RW’s claim to fame was trendspotting, not 10-year-old ideas? Maybe you discovered one of these posters in the staff break room at the Kidrobot store ;-)

For other similar amusements google “Depressories” (a play on the Successories catalog business that haks a lot of the corporate, un-ironic variety of motivational poster).

Or for that matter how about a comment on all the DIY motivational poster tools you can find online.

#1 
Written By Dave on April 29th, 2008 @ 10:51 pm
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