Now we called them demotivationals because they were made in reaction to motivationals, which were all the rage in Shelbyville. And one demotivational was worth ten motivationals. 'Gimme one for the ten,' you'd say, and you would post your motivationals so the wizards of memes could photoshop them, or you might say "shop." Which was the style at the time.
You could always tell a shop from some of the pixels, or from seeing quite a few shops in your time. Whichever was easier.
(I put way more effort into this than it called for.)