# What's the stupidest, least motivating, motivational poster/slogan you've ever seen? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 1, 2009, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319 "2009-06-01T04:51:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![SunSandSuffering](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@SunSandSuffering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunSandSuffering)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/141 "2009-06-09T09:06:02Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > “There is no ‘I’ in ‘Team.’” > > Yeah, well, thanks for the spelling lesson, coach. I never would’ve figured that out on my own. :rolleyes: There’s no “I” in “team”. But there is a “you” in “c\*nt”. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/142 "2009-06-09T09:26:04Z")
As I liked to say to my old boss, who was constantly crapping on about “Teamwork” (by which he meant “You better be psychic and know what I want or else I’m going to yell at you”), whenever he’d say “There’s no “I” in Team” I’d reply with “There’s no Team in “I”, either.” He didn’t like that. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/143 "2009-06-09T14:59:42Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > I had to go back and re-read to see if I misunderstood **Shot From Guns** , and it appears that I did. The way he(?) snipped the quote and worded his reply, it looked to me like he was expressing surprise that **BomTek** and his wife had lived long enough to marry and have kids of their own, which led to my attempt at clarification. > > On re-reading, it appears he was only commenting on the “Not as scary as some other genetic diseases” bit, so my bad. 1.) “ **S** he.” 😛 2.) Yup, you got it. I was curious if the “not as scary” comment meant that real progress had been made in treating CF, such that it wasn’t an automatic early-death-sentence anymore. (Which, given your 30-something friend, it looks like, woohoo!) ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/144 "2009-06-09T15:01:38Z")
I feel the need to post this youtube video of a motivational CD: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/o50_ZlMnjqY/hqdefault.jpg "Cheers to You! - video ad #1") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o50_ZlMnjqY) ---
**Author:** ![Furious\_Marmot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@Furious\_Marmot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Furious_Marmot)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/145 "2009-06-09T15:34:07Z")
We get an emailed ‘Quote of the day’, today’s was: “Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat good food, drink wine, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life. And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life-this is indeed a gift from God.” Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 What a steaming pile of self-serving shit. We should be just as happy as our CEO, while getting one thousandth (no kidding) his salary and one quarter his vacation. God says so, who are you to doubt God? Remarkable that the Lord comes down strongly on the side of maintaining the status quo. Somewhat less remarkable that those who work the least and get the most are the ones to point this out. Nice implied threat also. Keep your head down and like it, peasant! You should be happy you have anything! Maybe we’ll take it all away tomorrow! Can you imagine the thinking? “The proles are religious, right? Find something that tells them to shut up and work.” I’m sure it’s a coincidence that this was sent 2 weeks before raises (if any) are announced. ‘Any’ is looking less and less likely. This tripe motivates me to copy as much proprietary information as possible and start my own business. But you can’t blame me, it’s my lot in life. I’m only doing what God wants. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/146 "2009-06-09T16:19:34Z")
God asked me to tell you to shape up or ship out, buster. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/147 "2009-06-09T18:12:08Z")
T-Shirt Hell has a [new shirt](http://www.tshirthell.com/funny-shirts/dont-make-me-open-a-can-of-positivity-on-your-ass) up that’s appropriate for this thread. ---
**Author:** ![BomTek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bomtek/32/21364_2.png) [@BomTek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BomTek)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/148 "2009-06-09T20:59:17Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Yup, you got it. I was curious if the “not as scary” comment meant that real progress had been made in treating CF, such that it wasn’t an automatic early-death-sentence anymore. (Which, given your 30-something friend, it looks like, woohoo!) Mrs. BomTek and I were possibly the world’s best-prepared CF parents, until we found out that wouldn’t be an issue, thank Og. We found out that average life expectancy for CF patients is now in the high 30s, but the advantage of catching it soon (before the baby is even born via an amniocentesis) is that they can start getting treatment early. The treatments apparently aren’t all that invasive anymore, either… all it would have meant for BomTek Jr. was that his “normal” would have been a little bit different. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/149 "2009-06-09T21:16:07Z")
I had thought my friend’s twins were identical (they sure looked that way!) until one was diagnosed with CF and not the other. ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/150 "2009-06-09T21:24:30Z")
> [@Furious\_Marmot](#): > > “Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. \*\*It is good for people to eat good food, drink wine, and enjoy their work under the sun \*\*during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life. And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life-this is indeed a gift from God.” Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 emphasis added That looks like your mandate to take the 2pm conference call outside on the lawn with a tasty snack and a bottle of wine. Color me inspired! ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/151 "2009-06-09T22:03:58Z")
> [@](#): > > “Winter teaches a naked woman to knit.” … if we assume that yarn and needles are free, and that you can learn to knit just by examining yarn (without needing, say, lessons), and she doesn’t freeze to death or get arrested for indecent exposure in the time it takes to learn. > > Stupid and callous. Clearly you misunderstand. It means that when she realizes how perky her nipples become, she learns that she needs to knit a nice, tight sweater to best show them off. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2009, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/152 "2009-06-09T23:00:03Z")
> [@Nature\_s\_Call](#): > > In the front lobby of an insurance co. I saw a massive, floor to ceiling sized poster in the classic motivational style. The picture was of a majestic mountain range. The caption has me puzzled: I truly do not get the motivational value of this - and cannot fathom why they would so prominently display it. Because…no matter how many mountains (problems) you conquer, there are still more out there, just out of sight, in fact. So…you better buy lots and lots of insurance to be ready for the prob–er, challenges that are coming your way. Maybe? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/153 "2009-06-10T00:49:34Z")
A door in my high school had a poster of… let me see, I believe it was a cat, on the head of a dog, on top of another dog. Getting a cake from the refrigerator. You see, it was only by standing on top of each other that they were able to reach [del]their goal[/del] the cake. The text was something along the lines of “Everyone wins when you work together”. Just some of the problems I can name with this one: 1. Cats don’t eat cake. [Cats can’t taste sweetness](http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7720--why-cats-prefer-meats-to-sweets--.html). A beefsteak, maybe, or a tuna saled. But not cake. 2. And if cats did eat cake, you know the kitteh would have taken it all for himself instead of sharing with the dogs. 3. IIRC, the dog on the bottom was large enough to get the cake himself if he streched. Instead, the lazy mutt lay down on the floor and let the cat go fetch his dessert for him. He desrves to get cheated out of his share by the cat. Although, the poster did make me think. Specifically, it made me think, “How \*did \*they get those animals to stand on top of one another? Or was it just Photoshopped?” ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/154 "2009-06-10T02:58:33Z")
> [@a35362](#): > > Because…no matter how many mountains (problems) you conquer, there are still more out there, just out of sight, in fact. So…you better buy lots and lots of insurance to be ready for the prob–er, challenges that are coming your way. > > Maybe? 😛 Ah, so it was a marketing poster, not a motivational poster… that makes sense 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BrassyPhrase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@BrassyPhrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrassyPhrase)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/155 "2009-06-10T04:12:42Z")
I’m a big fan of Pearls Before Swine and there was a cartoon where Rat (I think) was writing motivitional posters. So I think Pig asks “what are motivational posters?” And Rat shows a TEAM acronym– Together Everyone Achieves Much And Rat shows his version This Environment Annoys the \*\*&%@@ out of Me I cut it out of the Sunday paper. Laminated it (well, used clear shelf liner) and cut put it around my workplace. I work with a woman is kinda nuts, but I do understand her. She brings the same strip into me, “I think you’ll think it’s funny” I showed here I already had it. I love it ---
**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/156 "2009-06-10T04:27:22Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Take a close look at this [logo](http://www.the3rdgear.com/images/logolarge.gif). > > Notice how gears set up this way can’t move. 😃 There was a poster in a hallway in my high school which pictured three gears arranged as in your link. They were labeled “Parents,” “Teachers,” and “Students.” The caption said something like “The machine doesn’t work unless all the parts are moving.” Of course the first thing I saw was that this machine could not move. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/157 "2009-06-10T07:53:42Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > “There is no ‘I’ in ‘Team.’” But there is a U in Stupid. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/158 "2009-06-10T12:52:13Z")
I once taught at a school in which the slogan “DO WHATEVER IT TAKES!” was featured prominently in the football locker room. I always wondered what kind of message the slogan was sending. “DO WHATEVER IT TAKES! (…even if that includes cheating on exams, copying someone else’s lab report, taking banned performance-enhancing drugs, lying to administrators, etc.)” :rolleyes: I have no problem with a slogan that tells student-athletes to work hard and do their best. But “DO WHATEVER IT TAKES!” seems to be saying that you should do whatever you have to do to get ahead, even if it’s illegal or unethical. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/159 "2009-06-10T16:02:13Z")
> [@robby](#): > > I have no problem with a slogan that tells student-athletes to work hard and do their best. But “DO WHATEVER IT TAKES!” seems to be saying that you should do whatever you have to do to get ahead, even if it’s illegal or unethical. Well, yeah. Isn’t that how high school sports usually work? At least this school’s up-front about it. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/160 "2009-06-10T16:16:40Z")
EvilTOJ: > [@](#): > > But there is a U in Stupid. Yeah, but that has an “I” also, setting you up for a counter-retort. Better to use “dumb”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319.md?page=9)