Origins of an ‘Innocent’ Meme
Pepe the frog from the comic book Boy’s Club became a worldwide multi-use meme in early 2016. The meme character ‘Pepe’ originates from an adult oriented comic book created in 2005 by Matt Furie, following Pepe and a group of friends engaging in drug-use, drinking, and wacky activities like acid drawing art contests. The frog-like humanoid character was first seen as a meme on 4chan in 2008, and peaked in popularity during 2015–2016. The meme since its origin, has been generated and used in nearly all contexts: humour, political, cultural, depression, and many more internet hot topics.
The meme reached the highest level of meme fame when it quickly became not only viral among regular internet users; but begun being used by celebrities, brands, and even government organizations. Some examples of Pepe’s fame comes from: The Russian Embassy via twitter, Nicki Minaj on Instagram, and Katy Perry on Twitter. With celebrity and brand engagement the meme quickly became commercialized, and often used in for-profit advertising.
Following the viral commercial success of the meme, 4chan users made a pact to reclaim the meme. The aftermath of 4chan users reclaiming the meme, meant the creation of a Pepe the Frog that represents anti-Jewish values and bigoted ideas. The recreation of Pepe the Frog made the Anti-Defamation League’s list of hate symbols; in the same line as the Swastika and Confederate battle flag. The meme in this day is now used only by Alt-Right movements, often users with alternate pseudonyms.
From the humble begingings of Pepe the Frog as a pop culture icon, to current day as a global hate symbol by the alt-right Pepe has been through many remixes. Pepe creator Matt Furie has neutral opinions on the uses of the meme as “it just a reflection of the world at large”. From the usage trends being vast, and Pepes creators speaking out, it seems that it will not be the last time we see this viral meme.
