McDonald's french fries POTENTIAL not everyone gets to be an astronaut when they grow up

Demotivational Posters

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Updated Nov 24, 2021 at 03:21PM EST by Philipp.

Added Jul 07, 2009 at 03:58PM EDT by W K.

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About

Demotivational Posters, also known as Demotivators, are mock motivational posters designed to discourage one's moral strength and diminish one's self-esteem. It usually consists of a picture, centered and bordered in black, with an all-cap title written in white, and in some cases, a tagline written in smaller font.

Origins

Despair Inc. is widely credited as the origin of Demotivational Posters and they began making spoofs of motivational posters (often found in corporate offices) in 1998 (shown below).[1][2]


POTENTIAL NoT EVERYONE GETS To BE AN ASTRONAUT WHEN THEY GROW UP. www.despair.com LIMITATIONS UNTIL YoU SPREAD YouR WINGS, You'LL HAVE No IDEA How FAR YOU CAN WALK. www.despair.com IRRESPONSIBILITY No SINGLE RAINDROP BELIEVES IT IS TO BLAME FOR THE FLOOD. www.despair.com

Spread

In the early 2000s, custom Demotivational Posters became a popular meme format on the Internet. For example, on September 1st, 2004, the Chamber of Secrets[3] forum user Snape is God posted a thread entitled "Harry Potter Demotivational Posters" (example below).

That year, CNN[2] published an article about the trend. They wrote, "[Despair founder E.L.] Kersten started the business in 1998 with a couple of friends in 1998 and Despair has blossomed into a company with $4 million in annual sales."


Harry Potter Demotivational Posters Page 1 of 2 1 2 > Thread Tools O September 1st, 2004, 12:03 am #1 Joined: 6065 days Snape is God Å c Registered User Harry Potter Demotivational Posters If you have gone to www.despair.com you know what demotivational posters are. This thread will be devoted to demotivational posters of Potter and friends. Ahh...the beauty of art. photobucket nost. store. share. SACRIFICE YOUR ROLE MAY BE THANKLESS, BUT IF You'RE WILLING TO GIYE IT YOUR ALL, You JusT MIGHT BRING SUCCESS TO POTTER.

Throughout the 2000s, Demotivational Posters appeared on numerous blogs and message and imageboards.[4] On July 18th, 2006, TechRepublic.com[5] published a slide show entitled "Images: Demotivators strike again" (examples below).

On April 27th, 2008, the New York Times[6] published an article about the creator of Demotivators, E.L. Kersten, The Art of Demotivation.


ADVERSITY THAT WHICH DOES NOT Kiu ME POSTPONES THE INEVITABLE. www.despair.com AGONY NoT Alu PAIN Is GAI www.despair.com AMBITION THE JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES SOMETIMES ENDS VERY, VERY BADIY. www.despair.com

Some websites, like Slashspot.com,[7][8] also began showcasing character- or person-specific posters, such as Peter Griffin and Kurt Vonnegut (examples below).


sloshspot.com LEARNING “The lesson here is that abusing alcohol has absolutely no negative consequences." sloshspot.com PEACE RALY TES LEADERSHIP "True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country."

New Wave Demotivational Posters (2019-)

Demotivational Conversations

Emoji Demotivationals

Emoji Demotivationals refers to new wave Demotivational Posters that are captioned with an emoji or emoticon that reflects the content of the main image, such as by being similar to the expression of the person in it. The images are not necessarily bound to the Demotivational Poster format and may simply be captioned with a fitting emoji instead.


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Various Examples


ALEX JONES There coming to take me away ha ha. I came when I heard you'd beater the ELITE FOUR.▼ PROFFESOR OAK He came. YDESPAIR.COM Photoshop Allowing you to see into the most messed-up minds on Earth.
AWESOME This is made of it. FACEPALM When even intergalactic vocabulary is not enough UNEX PLAINABLE This picture can not be explained


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