2013 | Say it with Snap

Between 1923 and 1929, Chicago-based Mather & Company created and sold colorful, graphically-dramatic posters to businesses across the United States for display in the workplace. Through these emphatic posters, workers were exhorted to get to the point when they conversed with co-workers (“Say it with snap!”), not lose their temper (“Blowing up blows up your chances”), and own up to and correct mistakes because “Repeating our mistakes ruins our records.” In an era when the relationships between management and workers were changing, motivating posters were a way to shape both worker behavior and attitudes.