Big ideas, small rewards?

From our Found Objects series.

This is the final installment about last century's approach to motivation as expressed in posters around the office.

The use of the peanuts motif in this poster could be exploited by cynics, yes, peanuts, that's all you get. The image context does not support the cynical take, especially since the elephant is neither pink nor white.

A common thread in all three posters we have shown in "M-oh-tivation", "Big ideas can hurt", and this post is humor, fun.

It is well established that happy employees share suggestions more easily than their downtrodden counterparts.

Summing it up, motivational posters, be they drawings or photos, should not be "too busy", not cluttered and convey optimism, even if they are tongue in cheek.

An easy example of how not to do it? 

Salvador Dali’s The Temptation of Saint Anthony.

You now have the basic tools to go and start a career in employee motivation.