About:

This motivational poster of a cat hanging onto a bar with the caption “hang in there baby” became popular in the early 2000s. This poster was originally released in the 1970s by photographer Victor Baldwin. He got this shot of his own cat, Sassy, and from there, published this image into a book called Outcast Kittens in 1970.

In the 1970s people were drawn to this poster after a famous composer purchased it, saying that it had helped her get through surgeries, accidents, and other rough life situations. Other artists tried to replicate this image and text, growing this idea into a popular trend. This poster is now considered a collectible and marked as one of the first motivational posters.

“Hang in there baby” has since then been imitated, parodied, and recognized as a symbol of corporate coldness.

Increased Popularity:

This popular image of this cat uttering this phrase has a large reference in pop culture. This poster made an appearance in an episode of The Simpsons, in the movie Terminator and even on a Survivor episode.  Years later an article was written from the perspective of the cat, and was used as a webcomic with the popular character Business Cat.

Author

Creative Bits is a popular blog about Creativity, Graphic Design, Adobe, Apple and other related subjects.

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