// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did Meme Man say to the image? You're a real copy.
| Meme Man | |
|---|---|
 | |
| In-universe information | |
| Alias | Stonks Man |
| Gender | Male |
Meme Man, sometimes also referred to as Mr. Succ or the Stonks guy, is a character often featured in internet memes. He is depicted as a 3D render of a smooth, bald, pale-skinned, and often disembodied blue-eyed male head.[1] He was popularized in the mid-2010s by the artist "Special meme fresh" and became a common character in many surreal memes, a genre of internet humor inspired by surrealism.[2][3] During the 2021 GameStop short squeeze, Meme Man was popularized by users of the subreddit r/wallstreetbets as the face of the "stonks" meme.[4]
The first usage of him as a recurring character was on the Facebook page of the artist "Special meme fresh" starting in 2014, and soon the character spread to become "one of the only consistent stylistic elements" of the surreal memes aesthetic.[2] On June 5, 2017, the artist uploaded an image of Meme Man overlaid on top of a stock photo of a man in a business suit with arms crossed and a chart pointing upwards behind him, and the caption "Stonks", a deliberate misspelling of the word "stocks".[5] The meme went viral and became a common reaction image on Reddit and Twitter.[6][7]
On February 1, 2019, Elon Musk bought the domain name "stankmemes.com" according to his tweet.[8] In June 2020, when Tesla Inc. shares soared, he tweeted "stonks", and the website featured this meme.[9][10]
Elon Musk has used both Meme Man and the "stonks" meme as a reaction on Twitter,[3] and on January 26, 2021, he tweeted the word "Gamestonk!!" with an attached link to r/wallstreetbets. Immediately afterwards, shares in GameStop rose 157 percent in extended-hours trading, which some linked with Musk's tweet.[11][12]
In 2021, the multiplayer video game Fortnite released a "Diamond Hanz" skin, based on the design of Meme Man, as a joke for April Fools Day.[13]
See also
[edit]- Rage comic – A meme which uses copies of black-and-white Microsoft Paint illustrations to illustrate emotional states
- Vaporwave – A microgenre of electronic music, and visual art style characterized by a nostalgic or surrealist engagement with the popular entertainment, technology and advertising of previous decades
- List of Internet phenomena – List which covers many popular internet memes
References
[edit]- ↑ Granata, Yvette (2019). "Meme Dankness: Floating Glittery Trash for an Economic Heresy". Post Memes. Brooklyn, NY: punctum books. ISBN 978-1-950192-43-4. OCLC 1135847279.
- 1 2 "Surreal Memes Are the Last Escape the Internet Has". Vice. July 2017. Archived from the original on 2021-07-30. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
- 1 2 Weissmann, Jordan (2021-01-28). "What We Talk About When We Talk About Stonks". Slate. Archived from the original on 2021-02-01. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
- ↑ Haasch, Palmer (2021-01-29). "What are 'stonks'? History of GameStop-linked meme explained". Insider. Archived from the original on 2022-02-05. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
- ↑ "Why Are People Referring To "Stocks" As "Stonks"?". Dictionary.com. 2 February 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-06-08. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
- ↑ "The bizarre 'Stonks' meme has returned". The Daily Dot. 2019-06-17. Archived from the original on 2021-05-07. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
- ↑ Reynolds, Kelly (2019-06-14). "Stonks Memes". StayHipp. Archived from the original on 2021-07-30. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
- ↑ "Stankmemes.com owner runs Tesla, Space X". Mashable. February 1, 2019. Archived from the original on September 10, 2021. Retrieved September 10, 2021.
- ↑ "Elon Musk weighs in on Tesla's stock again with a 'lol' and a meme". BNNbloomberg. June 11, 2020. Archived from the original on September 11, 2021. Retrieved September 11, 2021.
- ↑ "Elon Musk weighs in on Tesla's stock again, this time with 'Lol' and a meme". HT Auto. June 11, 2020. Archived from the original on September 11, 2021. Retrieved September 11, 2021.
- ↑ GmbH, finanzen net. "GameStop explodes another 157% higher after Elon Musk's 'Gamestonk' tweet extends Reddit-driven short squeeze". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 2022-02-05. Retrieved 2021-08-01.
- ↑ Shead, Sam (2021-01-29). "Elon Musk's tweets are moving markets — and some investors are worried". CNBC. Archived from the original on 2021-08-01. Retrieved 2021-08-01.
- ↑ "Fortnite now has the Stonks guy". Polygon. April 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-07-30. Retrieved 2024-12-26.