Enron, Lehman and the Corporate Graveyard: The Jokes Behind Our Designs
Most merch puts a face or a logo on a shirt. Mine puts a bankruptcy on it. Here's what's on each of our ten Atrioc designs, and why they're funny.
Why are there failed companies on Atrioc merch?
I talk business, markets and marketing on stream, and Enron jokes have been part of my community for years, long enough that Enron hats were Atrioc merch back in 2021. Wearing a famous corporate disaster with a straight face is the joke.
What are the failed-company designs?
- Enron: a giant tilted mark in red, green and blue outlines with ENRON down the side. Enron, the energy company, collapsed in 2001 after overstating its earnings.
- Enron Risk Management Department: the same style of mark beside three stacked words, Risk, Management and Department. Given how Enron ended, it is the driest joke in the set.
- Lehman Brothers: arched black collegiate letters with a tan outline and a 1999 oval, for the bank that filed for bankruptcy in September 2008.
- Corporate Graveyard: headstones for Blockbuster, Toys R Us, Sears, RadioShack, Kmart, Pan Am, Enron and Circuit City on a stairway of clouds, with the line "Built to last... until it wasn't."
- Bankrupt: one word in bubbly toy-store letters, backwards R included.
- Spirit Jet: the bright yellow airliner from the graveyard, on its own.
Which designs carry my name?
- Outline A Logo: a big outlined A in sky blue and red with a green triangle and ATRIOC down one side.
- Block A Logo: bars of purple, green and navy folded into an A, with ATRIOC in heavy slanted letters.
And the other two?
- Sigma: one meme word in huge white italic capitals.
- Portrait With Dog: a black line drawing of a smiling bearded man hugging a small dog, the softest design in the set.
Every design comes on tees, long sleeves, crewnecks and hoodies, plus kids' and youth sizes. Browse the collection.