# Misguided Motivational Posters and the like **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 4, 2026, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misguided-motivational-posters-and-the-like/1032816 "2026-09-04T12:18:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2026, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misguided-motivational-posters-and-the-like/1032816/1 "2026-09-04T12:18:26Z")
I’m pretty sure we’ve done this in the pas, but I came across n example, so I’m reviving it. We’ve all seen “motivational” posters, meant to inspire us. Sometimes they hang these in break rooms and the like. One place I worked in had one that looked like this: a row of light bulbs on wires, hanging at the same height. One was pulled away from the others, and lit, while the others were dark. The intent was clearly that this one lit light bulb would swing into the ohers, like a ball in a “Newton’s Cradle” desk sert, and would "inspire them, making the rest of them light up: > **[Photography Poster Perpetual motion with light bulbs. | Wall Art | Abposters.com](https://www.abposters.com/perpetual-motion-with-light-bulbs-f52889998?srsltid=AfmBOoq0c1EBRq0kQrc9YLcBZ8BDsArKvsyW6GHBZlj0AxtvTCIymBAqRT4)** > > Photography is professionally printed on glossy photo paper of 250 g/m² in chosen size. Print options also as a canvas print, wall mural or sticker. Possibility of quality framing and lamination. A wide selection of motifs - more than 300 000 motifs... Only my mind worked out the more likely result – the swinging light bulb would smash into the nearest bulb and both of them would shatter. Maybe the entire line of them. Yeah, I know what they were trying to say. But I couldn’t get the idea that this was a destructive and stupid act out of my mind. In the real world, you don’t light up another bulb by placing it next to a lit one, even if it’s not swinging. Another thing I’ve seen used seriously as a logo is a set of three interlocking gears, used for mechanica engineering organizations or companies, like this: > **[Google Search](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=c8557b5bb6b82d6c&rlz=1C1VDKB_enUS1122US1128&sxsrf=APpeQnvP71QeQqxRwDcQBqRkV85N15pAUw:1788523894927&fbs=ABfTbFVyMZGZf1hfvX9uKjN_-G8c4u0nXx4bEIpwm1lnNH832SMIiTl3t-JZ4hGJOxPbHYRQDtz5om-6srRFNP4UK_6eHeIexnQRPZcc5cuRwMa_REQyr0vn25eSKoW3edfFSs4U3uz-l6F4RPS343me6P08odhLRZpXUAdDxqjZHdRup_8kTvxm4nSAuepy2reDSGxjTHIu29nqKS0XLp8991zgHN1LDQ&q=three+interlocked+gears&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiJm7fb8tSWAxV0zvACHcADDBkQtKgLegQIFhAB&biw=1280&bih=585&dpr=1.5&tbm=isch)** > **[Google Search](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=c8557b5bb6b82d6c&rlz=1C1VDKB_enUS1122US1128&sxsrf=APpeQnvP71QeQqxRwDcQBqRkV85N15pAUw:1788523894927&fbs=ABfTbFVyMZGZf1hfvX9uKjN_-G8c4u0nXx4bEIpwm1lnNH832SMIiTl3t-JZ4hGJOxPbHYRQDtz5om-6srRFNP4UK_6eHeIexnQRPZcc5cuRwMa_REQyr0vn25eSKoW3edfFSs4U3uz-l6F4RPS343me6P08odhLRZpXUAdDxqjZHdRup_8kTvxm4nSAuepy2reDSGxjTHIu29nqKS0XLp8991zgHN1LDQ&q=three+interlocked+gears&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiJm7fb8tSWAxV0zvACHcADDBkQtKgLegQIFhAB&biw=1280&bih=585&dpr=1.5&tbm=isch)** In reality, of course, three gears put together in such a way will simply not move – no matter how you figure it, the gear teeth are trying to move in two different directions simultaneously. If you use this as a symbol, it’s clear that you _don’t_ understand how gears work, at all. \*\* Another example is the “fouled anchor” frequently used as insignia by varois navies.In this case a chain or cable is wrapped around the anchor, providing a visually interesting and pleasing image, but presenting a situation to be avoided in real life at all costs. But it looks cool! ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2026, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misguided-motivational-posters-and-the-like/1032816/2 "2026-09-04T12:30:33Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Another example is the “fouled anchor” frequently used as insignia by varois navies. The fouled anchor has been around for a long time. It was adopted as the official seal of Lord High Admiral Charles Lord Howard of Effingham during the late 1500s. A variation of the seal had been in use by the Lord High Admiral of Scotland about a century earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Topologist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/topologist/32/3208_2.png) [@Topologist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Topologist)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2026, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misguided-motivational-posters-and-the-like/1032816/3 "2026-09-04T15:56:37Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Another thing I’ve seen used seriously as a logo is a set of three interlocking gears Quite a few of us got a good laugh when our organization chose that as part of a logo meant to represent our desire for administrative agility. It was more on point than they thought… ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2026, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misguided-motivational-posters-and-the-like/1032816/4 "2026-09-04T16:23:19Z")
I’m quite fond of these demotivational posters: [Demotivators® - The World’s Best Demotivational Posters tagged “BestOf” - Despair, Inc.](https://despair.com/collections/demotivators/BestOf) ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2026, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misguided-motivational-posters-and-the-like/1032816/5 "2026-09-04T16:37:57Z")
I worked for a bank that had an executive meeting room decorated with prints of Hogarth’s “Industry & Idleness” series. I had a meeting in there once and it irritated me that they seemed to have hung the prints in random order rather than from beginning to end (either clockwise or counter-clockwise). I would have rehung them in the right order, but I didn’t dare at the time. > **[Industry and Idleness](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industry_and_Idleness)** > > Industry and Idleness is the title of a series of 12 plot-linked engravings created by the English artist William Hogarth in 1747, intending to illustrate to working children the possible rewards of hard work and diligent application and the sure disasters attending a lack of both. Unlike his earlier works, such as A Harlot's Progress (1731) and Marriage à-la-mode (1743), which were painted first and subsequently converted to engravings, Industry and Idleness was created solely as a set of eng... ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2026, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misguided-motivational-posters-and-the-like/1032816/6 "2026-09-04T16:50:27Z")
Not quite the same as a poster, but I believe the Russians used to use slogans like “Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country.” This promptly led to algebra mockery, with people saying, “Then, Soviet power is communism minus electrification, and electrification is communism minus Soviet power.” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2026, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misguided-motivational-posters-and-the-like/1032816/7 "2026-09-04T17:41:35Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > I worked for a bank that had an executive meeting room decorated with prints of Hogarth’s “Industry & Idleness” series. I had a meeting in there once and it irritated me that they seemed to have hung the prints in random order rather than from beginning to end (either clockwise or counter-clockwise). I would have rehung them in the right order, but I didn’t dare at the time. Interesting post/poster combination. I’m a big fan of Hogarth, but I really can’t see anyone hanging his stuff up as motivational or demotivational posters – it’s too out-of-date and some of it is just too weird. Although I’d love to see the last print from **The Four Stages of Cruelty** hung up somewhere – “The Reward for Cruelty” that shows the villain getting his reward, being dissected in the medical college. He drew it so that it looks as if the corpse can _feel_ what’s being done to it. > **[The Reward of Cruelty, from The Four Stages of Cruelty, engraved by Thomas...](https://www.meisterdrucke.ie/fine-art-prints/William-Hogarth/283000/The-Reward-of-Cruelty,-from-The-Four-Stages-of-Cruelty,-engraved-by-Thomas-Cook-(1744-1818),-1799.html)** > > The Reward of Cruelty, from The Four Stages of Cruelty, engraved by Thomas Cook (1744-1818), 1799 by William Hogarth as a fine art print. ▷ Buy now ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2026, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misguided-motivational-posters-and-the-like/1032816/8 "2026-09-05T03:33:34Z")
Have y’all not heard of [Despair, Inc](https://despair.com/collections/demotivators)? ---
**Author:** ![Lare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Lare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lare)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2026, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misguided-motivational-posters-and-the-like/1032816/9 "2026-09-05T07:18:30Z")
Well, **Euphonious\_Polemic** has. 🙂 (See post #4.) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2026, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misguided-motivational-posters-and-the-like/1032816/10 "2026-09-05T12:03:11Z")
My favorite from there: “Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes that reason is you’re foolish and you make poor decisions.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2026, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misguided-motivational-posters-and-the-like/1032816/11 "2026-09-05T14:56:52Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Another thing I’ve seen used seriously as a logo is a set of three interlocking gears, used for mechanica engineering organizations or companies, like this: Your thinking is too two-dimensional. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/5Mf0JpTI_gg/maxresdefault.jpg "Three Gears are Possible - Numberphile") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Mf0JpTI_gg) ---
**Author:** ![f.coli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eada6e/32.png) [@f.coli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/f.coli)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2026, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misguided-motivational-posters-and-the-like/1032816/12 "2026-09-06T20:05:04Z")
Did anyone ever create motivational posters for management to treat their employees with respect and ample financial compensation? ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2026, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misguided-motivational-posters-and-the-like/1032816/13 "2026-09-11T14:57:04Z")
That would be wonderfully subversive. Make them high quality with slogans like, “Proper compensation gets the job done!” or “Home time is YOUR time!” ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2026, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misguided-motivational-posters-and-the-like/1032816/14 "2026-09-11T15:15:54Z")
The rope holding the corpse down seems excessive. A popular motivational poster in the past was “philosopher” Elbert Hubbard’s screed about being loyal to the boss. > [@](#): > > “If you work for a man, in heaven’s name work for him! If he pays you wages that supply you your bread and butter, work for him - speak well of him, think well of him, stand by him and stand by the institution he represents. I think if I worked for a man I would work for him. I would not work for him a part of the time, and the rest of the time work against him. I would give an undivided service or none. If put to the pinch, an ounce of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness.” In other words, fawning loyalty is much more important than competence and should be valued (but not necessarily compensated) accordingly. Along with his famous motivational words, Hubbard is known for being the main speaker at the 1908 meeting of The Society in Dedham for Apprehending Horse Thieves, a 1913 conviction for distributing objectionable or obscene material through the U.S. Mail, and for being a casualty in the sinking of the _Lusitania_. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2026, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misguided-motivational-posters-and-the-like/1032816/15 "2026-09-11T15:31:38Z")
“There are three kinds of people in the world: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, those who wonder what happened.” With the implication that only the first kind of person has any value, and everyone should strive to be in that first group. Um, no. _Somebody_ had better be watching the “people who make things happen” to make sure what they are doing is actually useful and worthwhile, and somebody had better be wondering what happened, in the sense of asking questions and seeking to understand it. Drives me crazy when it’s in a classroom, especially. You just devalued the whole academic enterprise right there. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2026, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misguided-motivational-posters-and-the-like/1032816/16 "2026-09-11T18:42:50Z")
When I worked in an intelligence agency, I was always amused at posters dramatically reminding us that if we got caught sellings secrets to the enemy, we’d go to prison. It seemed to me that if a person needed to be reminded of this, they should have been screened out of the hiring process. More sensible were posters basically reminding us that “loose lips sink ships”; telling us to follow security procedures. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2026, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misguided-motivational-posters-and-the-like/1032816/17 "2026-09-12T00:09:18Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > Drives me crazy when it’s in a classroom, especially. You just devalued the whole academic enterprise right there. The one I see sometimes in classrooms that drives me batty is “Even Einstein asked questions”. That’s like saying “Even LeBron James shot some hoops”. What made Einstein great was precisely that he asked questions. He was a world champion at question-asking. No “even” about it. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2026, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misguided-motivational-posters-and-the-like/1032816/18 "2026-09-12T01:44:01Z")
I’ve gotten in trouble more than once online for posting this. > **[Dysfunction](https://despair.com/products/dysfunction?_pos=1&_sid=c817fb2e1&_ss=r)** > > The only consistent feature of all of your dissatisfying relationships is you.