Fire prevention equipment factory on fire – cartoon about irony

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ironic fire in sprinkler factory cartoon

Cartoon of a sprinkler factory on fire

The cartoon shows an ironic situation in which a factory that manufactures fire prevention equipment is on fire.

I think that this cartoon was probably inspired by the observation that many fires in buildings are caused when the building is being renovated.
A cartoon about irony and health and safety (amongst other things).
Drawn: June 2018
Cartoon reference number: a776
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We didn’t do anything illegal – corporate morality

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We didn't do anything illegal

A cartoon about corporate morals and the moral corporate stance of stating that “We never did anything illegal” as a justification for using devious or evasive financial practices.

This cartoon is partly inspired by the news story about money laundering through Panama legal/financial firm Mossack Fonseca

A cartoon about corporate morality, the spirit of the law, money laundering leaks, tax evasion, tax avoidance, tax havens.
Refa736
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Profiting from climate change – cartoon

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profiteering from global warming cartoon

Climate change cartoon.
A businessman making his business diversify into boats due to increased flood risk.

As global warming results in more floods there will be a greater demand for boats.
The cartoon shows a businessman suggesting that his manufacturing company diversify into ship and boat building.

A cartoon showing manufacturing companies and businesses adapting to changing demands, and about the adaptability of capitalism.

Drawn: 2017

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Bankers’ salary and bonus cartoon

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banker's salaries and bonuses cartoon

Investment bankers’ bonuses and pay joke

Investment banking humour

Showing a banking job interview.

The interviewer is asking “What is it that attracts you to a career in investment banking?”
A cartoon about the bonus culture in banking and the ethics of banking

Ref: a312b

Bankers’ bonuses cartoon

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banking cartoon - bankers bonus

Cartoon about bankers’salaries

Illustrating the contempt felt by sections of the public for bankers and other workers in the financial sector who earn enormous salaries with even larger bonuses

The joke in the cartoon is the tautology or circularity in the justification by the banker of his high salary.

Ref: a667

Businesses profiting from climate change

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business opportunities created by climate change

Environment cartoon about profit from climate change

Showing business opportunities created by global warming.

The joke is based on the saying “It’s an ill wind that blows nobody good” (meaning that someone always benefits from any situation, including bad ones).
The cartoon is meant as a criticism of cynical profiteering from climate change – it’s not a criticism of pragmatic approaches to job creation as a result of climate change.

Ref: a648

Museum and art gallery merchandising cartoon – fridge magnets of exhibits

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museum merchandising cartoon - fridge magnets of artworks

Cartoon about art gallery and museum mechandising and funding.
Which works of art would look good on fridge magnets?

Cartoon showing artworks being considered for use in merchandising

Cartoon showing a meeting of staff responsible for acquiring artworks in an art gallery considering which works of art to buy, including evaluating the commercial, marketing and merchandising potential of the works of art under consideration.
The cartoon’s caption reads:
“It may indeed be a pivotially significant example of early 18th century Flemish art, but as head of merchandising I have to ask ‘What would it look like on a fridge magnet?’”
It is a cartoon about the commercialisation and commodification of artworks such as paintings and of museum artefacts. The cartoon illustrates the problem of funding art galleries and museums, and the increased reliance on museum gift shops and cafes.
Cartoon reference number: a152
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Bank computer malfunction cartoon

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bank computer malfunction cartoon

A joke about bank computer failures

A joke about the computer glitches that affect banking systems and other large organisations

The image shows a bank customer withdrawing money from a cashpoint (ATM) and tentacles coming out of the cashpoint to engulf her.
An onlooker is saying “Looks like another computer glitch!”
Cartoon about banking, I.T., Nat West, RBS computer glitch, banking computer systems.

Cartoon reference number: a311

Team building cartoon – “There’s no ‘I’ in ‘team'”

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no i in team

Teamwork or management cartoon
There’s No ‘I’ in ‘team’

An illustration about group psychology and team dynamics.
It suggests that while a group or team may be important, it’s also important not to suppress the individual too much (as individuals are usually more creative than groups)

This cartoon is suitable for publications about motivation, or in presentations about group dynamics or by motivational speakers.

It’s also a image about questioning authority, questioning established viewpoints and about individualism

Ref a588
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Fiscal cliff cartoon – the US economy attached to a falling dollar sign

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fiscal cliff - car and dollar sign - cartoon

Fiscal cliff cartoon
Cartoon of the US economy attached to a falling dollar sign

A political cartoon or editorial cartoon about the fiscal cliff that is threatening the US economy, possibly making the US economy fall into recession.
Cartoon showing a US dollar sign attached to a car’s tow bar, and dangling over a cliff edge (the fiscal cliff)

The car is being driven by Uncle Sam.
The cartoon shows the dollar sign dragging the car towards the edge of the cliff (as the falling dollar drags the US economy into recession).
The illustration is drawn in such a way that there’s a chance that the car might just about be able to turn things around and drag the dollar sign back up
Cartoon reference number: a485
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Fiscal cliff cartoon – road warning sign

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fiscal cliff warning road sign cartoon

Fiscal cliff cartoon
Falling rock warning road sign as fiscal cliff warning sign – cartoon

A cartoon about the fiscal cliff that is threatening the US economy, possibly making the US economy fall into recession.
The cartoon is of a US road warning sign based on a falling rock warning sign, with US dollar signs falling instead of rocks. A person is being hit by the dollar signs

Cartoon reference number: a484

Unethical business practices cartoon. Business ethics and tax evasion

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company motto - didn't do anything illegal - cartoon

Business ethics cartoon
Tax evasion cartoon

A cartoon about corporate ethics and ethical codes and ideology in business
Morally reprehensible business practices

A cartoon about morals and moral attitudes in businesses, corporations and companies.
This cartoon was drawn after several businesses and corporations tried to excuse their dubious practices with the reason that “We weren’t doing anything illegal” or “It was all within the law” – as though the only yardstick for restraining sharp or devious business practice was whether it was legal or not.
The instances involved include the tax avoidance schemes of the Starbucks coffee chain, in which Starbucks contrived to make a loss rather than a profit on its enterprise in the UK so that it paid no tax.
The other instance was the ‘Kate hoax” – the case of the telephone hoax or ‘prank’ perpetrated by two Australian radio presenters on the 2DayFM radio station, where they phoned the King Edward 7th hospital in London to fraudulently obtain and broadcast information about the the Duchess of Cambridge (Kate Middleton). The prank resulted in the suicide of one of the nurses who was caught out by the hoax, Jacintha Saldanha. In this case, while the two presenters may have mainly been guilty of youthful irresponsibility and the naive assumption that everything was just a bit of fun, the radio station’s parent company, Southern Cross Austereo, stated that the hoax wasn’t illegal, which, even if true, was reprehensible.
A cartoon about corporate greed, business ethos and ideology, and corporate mission statements

Cartoon reference number: a474

Globalisation cartoon – a company logo featuring the earth

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globalisation one world motto cartoon

Globalisation and corporate power cartoon

A company logo featuring the earth.
Many companies and corporations attempt to convey a green or environmentally friendly image by featuring images of the earth on their packaging, literature or promotional material
This cartoon shows a company that is using a globe on their corporate logo as a public relations exercise in projecting environmental awareness, while the globe also has the secondary meaning of the company’s global market domination

The company motto is being discussed. Should it be “One World” or “All ours”?

Cartoon reference number: a466

Global warming cartoons – global warming benefitting industry

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Environment cartoons

Environment cartoon – global warming and consumerism.

An environmental cartoon showing executives in a firm that manufactures refrigerators discussing global warming.
They are saying that the more the world warms up, the more people will want to buy fridges

An illustration of the truth behind the expression It’s an ill wind that blows nobody good, and the way that capitalism can benefit from adversity.
The point of this cartoon is that to some extent the creators of global warming will benefit from it.
Maybe they even sponsor climate change denial research!

Original version drawn: 1991

Cartoon reference number: a441

Architecture cartoon – high rise office block architecture

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architecture skyscraper cartoon

Architecture cartoon
Skyscraper cartoon

High rise office blocks architecture, with the architects having trouble designing the buildings’ tops.

The buildings are modern bland, glass and steel designs apart from the tops

A cartoon of an architect’s office with models of high-rise buildings on a table, each high-rise building having an unusually shaped top.
The cartoon illustrates the way that modern architecture often relies on gimmicky shapes to give the buildings an identity (such as the ‘Gherkin’, the Shard, the “Pinnacle”, the “Cheesegrater”), so that cityscapes look more and more bizzare.

Cartoon reference number: a427
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Economy cartoon – balancing on a declining economy graph

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Economy graph cartoon - unicycle with coin wheel

Economics graph cartoon – balancing on a declining economy

A financial graph cartoon showing a businessman or banker on a unicycle trying to balance on the plunging line of the graph as a financial recession occurs

A cartoon about the recession, double dip recessions, balance of trade, finance, money, credit crunch, economics

Cartoon reference number: a417

Euro crisis graph – editorial illustration

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downward graph euro illustration

Eurozone financial crisis graph – editorial illustration

A downward graph with a euro coin bouncing down the slope of the graph during the euro financial crisis.
An illustration of the global recession.

An editorial illustration about finance, and the eurozone financial crisis.
Cartoon reference number: a390

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Global financial crisis graph – editorial illustration

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downward financial graph cartoon

Editorial illustration about financial recession – downward graph with a globe bouncing down the slope of the graph.

An illustration about the world financial crisis.

An editorial illustration about global finance, world recession and global crisis in general
Cartoon reference number: a389

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The accompanying page design is a suggestion of how the image could be used.

downward-graph-page-design

Cartoon – Apple logo with teeth

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Apple logo with teeth - cartoon

Apple logo cartoon.
Menacing Apple logo with teeth

Editorial cartoon showing the Apple logo transformed into a ‘monster’ with teeth

The concept of the cartoon is that Apple corp is getting too big and is turning into a bit of a monster, with all of the consequent problems, such as market monopoly, corporate greed, imbalance of competition.

This cartoon is about rapacious corporate gigantism, and not necessarily about Apple’s products – I’ve drawn almost all of my cartoons since 1985 on Macs, and have hardly touched a PC in my life.
A cartoon about corporate success, expansion, mobile phones, 3G, 4G, computers, computer companies, phone companies.

WARNING. This cartoon can not be used for commercial purposes unless it is as editorial content.

Cartoon reference number: a386
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Apple are getting so big they may be turning into a monster

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apple logo monster - cartoon

Apple logo cartoon.
Apple are getting so big they are turning into a monster

Editorial cartoon showing the Apple logo transformed into a ‘monster’ with teeth, devouring a cell phone that represents the other phone manufacturers.

The concept is that Apple corp is getting too big and is creating an imbalance in the telecommunications industry.

This cartoon is about rapacious corporate gigantism, and not necessarily about Apple’s products – I’ve drawn almost all of my cartoons since 1985 on Macs, and have hardly touched a PC in my life, so I’m a big Apple fan.

WARNING. This cartoon can not be used for commercial purposes unless it is as editorial content.

Cartoon reference number: a385

Barclays Bank chairman resigns cartoon

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barclays chairman resigns cartoon

Barclays chairman Marcus Agius resigns as the chairman following the libor inter-bank lending rate-fixing scandal

Cartoon about the scandal of banks rigging the libor rates to their own advantage.

Barclays Bank accused of “systematic dishonesty”.
Cartoon about financial malpractice and institutional corruption.

Cartoon reference number: a314

Bankers’ pay cartoon. Morality of banking

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bankers pay dollar sign painting

Banker’s bonus cartoon

Joke about bankers’ salaries

Cartoon showing a job interview in a bank.

The interviewer is asking “What is it that attracts you to a job in banking?”
On the wall of the bank is a gigantic picture of a dollar sign.
A cartoon about bankers’ bonuses, and the bonus culture, the ethics of capitalism and corporate greed.

Cartoon reference number: a312

Banking cartoons – bankers’ bonuses

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bankers robbers cartoon

Cartoon depicting bankers as bank robbers

A bank scandal cartoon – about the moral crisis in banking, evidenced by such incidents as the libor interest rigging scandal

Showing a banker as a thief, robbing from the public (or elsewhere).
The illustration represents a banker’s attitude to the public (The manipulation of the libor rate to the bank’s advantage meant that many customers had to pay more for their mortgages amongst other things).

A member of the public is shouting at the running banker “Stop thief!”
The joke is that the robber is running into the bank, whereas usually robbers are running out of banks.
Barclays Bank accused of “systematic dishonesty”.
Cartoon about finance, financial institutions, financial malpractice and institutional corruption.

Cartoon reference number: a310

Barclays Bank interest rate rigging cartoon.

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Barclays Bank interest rigging scandal cartoon

Barclays bank interest rigging scandal cartoon

An illustration about the scandal of Barclays Bank and other banks rigging the libor rates to their own advantage.

Showing a Barclays Bank logo defecating on the head of a customer.
The cartoon represents Barclays Bank’s attitude to its customers (The manipulation of the libor rate to the bank’s advantage meant that many customers had to pay more for their mortgages amongst other things).

Did Bob Diamond know about the practice of rigging the libor rate?
Barclays Bank accused of “systematic dishonesty”.

Cartoon reference number: a308

Banker cartoon

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cartoon - bank thieves operate in this area

Banking cartoon
Barclays bank interest rigging scandal

The scandal of traders at Barclays Bank and other banks manipulating the libor rates to their own advantage.

Gag cartoon showing a bank with a sign outside it reading “Warning. Thieves operate in this area”

Did Bob Diamond know about the practice?
Are bankers thieves?
Barclays Bank accused of “systematic dishonesty”.
A humorous comment about finance, financial institutions, banking corruption and libor rigging.

Cartoon reference number: a307

Olympic torch cartoon, Olympic sponsorship

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cartoon olympic torch ice cream

Cartoon – Olympic merchandising /h3>

Cartoon showing a stall selling ice creams in the shape of the 2012 Olympic torch

An official representing Olympic marketing is telling the stall holder that it is illegal to sell olympics-related merchandise unless you have permission from an official sponsor
The cartoon is a criticism of the profit motive as applied so ruthlessly and thoughtlessly to the olympic games.

Drawn: 2012

Cartoon reference number: a306

Thieves Operate in this Area! Cartoon about banking and the City of London

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thieves operate in this area - bankers - cartoon

Warning – Thieves Operate in this Area!
Cartoon about bankers and banking in the City of London (or any other financial centre)

Cartoon about the dubious morality of some areas of banking and the financial sector.
The cartoon likens bankers and financiers to thieves or robbers.

The cartoon is an illustration of one aspect of the current popular image of bankers – that bankers are greedy and amoral and are only interested in their bonuses.
A cartoon about banks, bank ethics and morals, the morality of the financial sector, City of London, banking district, financial quarter, capitalism, credit crisis.
Cartoon reference number: a285
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Cartoon – Facebook shares dive after floating of Facebook

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facebook share price dives - cartoon

Facebook share price dives

Cartoon about Facebook’s share price diving

Cartoon showing the Facebook logo as a submarine periscope, with the sub diving like the share price

The price of Facebook shares has fallen since the company was floated on the stock exchange recently.
The cartoon plays on the stock market terms such as float, dive and sink.

Cartoon reference number: a251
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Cartoon – Clinton Cards goes into administration

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Clinton Cards in administration - cartoon

Clinton Cards goes into administration – cartoon

A cartoon about the greetings card company, Clinton Cards, which has gone into administration today

The illustration shows person choosing a greetings card from a display of greetings cards in a Clinton Cards shop

The theme of the cards in the rack is “Sorry We’re Leaving”
This is on the assumption that Clinton Cards will be closing some of their stores and laying off staff.

Cartoon reference number: a233
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Facebook cartoon. The monetization of social media

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facebook internet marketing cartoon

Facebook cartoon. Facebook friends cartoon

Facebook internet marketing cartoon, showing a Facebook page with the message “On-line marketing wants to be your friend”.

This cartoon was drawn when Facebook was due to be floated on the stock market in 2012, based on the idea that following the proposed stock market flotation Facebook would change from being a social networking site into a commercial marketing site, appropriated by business and commercial interests as a channel for selling their goods and services.
The process had already started, with data about Facebook users’ ‘likes’ being used as a means of targeting and reaching potential customers.
The joke in the cartoon is that business interests cannot be your ‘friends’ as they are only interested in you because of your money.
A cartoon about the commercialisation of social media sites. A cynical view on what it will mean to be a Facebook friend in the future.
Drawn: 2012
Cartoon reference number: a115
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Cartoon – bankers’ bonuses creating instability in the economy

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banker with bonus cartoon

Bankers’ bonus cartoon

Cartoon about bankers’ bonuses. Showing a banker holding a bonus, with the ground beneath the banker cracking under the weight of the bonus.

A cartoon about large bankers bonuses and the effects of the bonus culture.
Bankers’ bonuses and salaries are so grossly inflated that they are destabilising the economy and are causing economic and social fracturing (symbolised in the cartoon by the fact that the ground beneath the banker is fracturing and cracking due to the large size of the banker’s bonus, thus destroying the economic base on which the economy is built).
The cartoon is an illustration of the social and economic instability that is resulting from the runaway growth of bonuses and top salaries under the current unregulated version of the capitalist system.
Cartoon reference number: a116
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Cartoon. Waterstone’s bookshops drop the apostrophe

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Waterstone's grocer's apostrophe cartoon

A cartoon about the announcement that Waterstone’s booksellers are to remove the apostrophe from their name.

Cartoon. The joke here is that a bookseller = of all people – should maintain standards of punctuation. In the cartoon Waterstone’s is depicted as a market stall rather than a bookshop, with the Waterstone’s sign lacking an apostrophe, but with the label for the books on the stall containing an apostrophe. This apostrophe is the core of the joke. This apostrophe is known as the grocers’ apostrophe (or is it the grocer’s apostrophe?), which is a common symbol of bad punctuation.

A cartoon about punctuation, changing punctuation due to the internet (partly due to the fact that some punctuation isn’t allowed in urls etc), evolution of language,
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Cartoon. Western businessman seeking the meaning of life (in half an hour)

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Meaning of life cartoon important meeting

Cartoon depicting a western businessman visiting an eastern guru to try to find the meaning of life. He wants the answer quickly, because he is very busy and is short of time.

This is possibly a cartoon criticising the emptiness of western capitalist consumerist society. Having said that, I’m not a follower of eastern (or any other) mystical or spiritual societies either!

The humour in the cartoon is related to the fact that the businessman expects the answer to his difficult question in a very short time – possibly because the businessman is used to his minions and advisors giving him information in bite-sized chunks and in over-simplified and un-nuanced form.
It is a cartoon about the materially rich, time-poor nature of modern capitalist society, and about the expectation that life should be easy, with any answers instantly available.
Cartoon reference number: a052

Cartoon about compromise and consensus

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Lets meet half way compromise cartoon

A cartoon about compromise and consensus.

A cartoon showing two people disagreeing.
They want to compromise (or at least one of them does), but the gulf between them is too great.
There is no meeting point possible.
The thing that the two people disagree about could be anything from a domestic issue, an emotional issue, a relationship issue, a political issue, a pay negotiation – any sort of problem really.

A cartoon about compromise, consensus, diplomacy, shifting your position, negotiating, therapy, counselling, psychotherapy, arbitration, negotiation.
Cartoon reference number: a024