Squirrel Memes, and Other Ways to Get People to Care
By: Tess Stewart
Sometime in 2012, somebody on Reddit posted a picture of a squirrel. More accurately, somebody on Reddit posted a picture of a squirrel in a full suit of shining armor. As you can see, the squirrel is ready for battle. He’s prepared, shield and all. Is it photoshopped? Maybe. Probably. But it doesn’t really matter. The squirrel in shining armor is meant to be absurd.
Not long after its publication, someone captioned it.
You swerve to avoid a squirrel. Unknown to you, the squirrel pledges a life debt to you. In your darkest hour, the squirrel arrives.
And so we have it: a meme born, one that endures all these years later.
The squirrel in shining armor was (and is) ridiculous. Cute? Sure. But add to that the notion of a squirrel donning its armor and pledging to rescue you in your darkest hour? Well, that’s the type of unassuming content that sells itself.
But why? Why are we drawn to the absurdity of a squirrel donning medieval war gear?
I only encountered the squirrel meme a few months ago. At first, I thought it was a surface-level funny meme — you know, one you chuckle at for a beat before continuing to scroll. But it wasn’t. I couldn’t stop thinking about what my friend said as I handed his phone back.
“Just imagine a squirrel,” he said, “or really, just imagine anybody, showing up for you when you need help the most. That’s just — ”
Beautiful.
It finally started to sink in. The squirrel in shining armor meme is beautiful because it’s hopeful. It isn’t really about the squirrel at all. But the combined image and text created a space reminiscent of a long-lost belief in a world where this notion of goodness exists unquestionably.
I want to believe in a world where a squirrel — this unassuming creature I hardly ever think twice about — would be there for me in my darkest hour. I want to believe that when it really matters, the world and the people in it are good.
From “doggo” memes to the recent “DTF campaign” by OkCupid, endeavors like these aim to upend expectations through wholesome representations.
And they work.
They resonate even in our attention economy. With phones that buzz twice after not opening a notification and an ever-present media cycle, people rarely have time to process the messages they are consuming. Not only is the amount of information overwhelming, but the increasingly divisive rhetoric found in politics and online culture has left many to disengage emotionally before a marketer could even begin to reach them.
So how do marketers — how does anybody, for that matter — navigate this new digital landscape that has fueled such disillusionment?
Maybe it is through squirrel memes.
Seriously, though. Within many recent popular memes and viral pop culture moments, there is this similar, not-quite-tangible element of goodness.
Wholesome. Nostalgic. Idyllic. Heart-warming.
Whatever you want to call it, marketers would be remiss to not pay attention. When Billy Ray Cyrus lends his own twang to Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” it is bound to skyrocket to the top of the charts, which it did in April. It will be remembered as one of the most dominant #1 hits of all time (no joke), and not just because it slaps, but because Lil Nas X and Billy Ray teamed up to give us a relationship that represented more than just another remix.
People need that alternative to the chaos that dominates our lives. After looking at some pop culture moments that resonate, it’s becoming clear that the content doesn’t solely define its success. Front-line ads meant to build brand awareness might be working too hard to get people to care about new things. The things — the memes, the content, the images — don’t matter all that much because they change too fast. You can’t ask people to care about those parts. People don’t care all that much about squirrels. And they don’t care about medieval armor.
But when you put those two together, that space creates something that does matter — something they want to believe in this world.
People want to believe that Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper are dating after singing “Shallow” on that piano bench in A Star Is Born. Their intimacy reminded us that we care about love. Our reactions — on Twitter, anyway — proved that we want their love to exist in this world. Even when we know it doesn’t.
Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s performance didn’t ask us to care. It wasn’t attention-grabbing or filled with the usual conventions of entertainment. Instead, it opened up a space for possibility in our lives. That “what if?” provided us an emotional oasis in the middle of an exhausting media ecosystem. And, of course, we ate it up and ended up caring.
We’re all just doing our best to keep up. To matter. To connect. Billy Ray Cyrus supporting Lil Nas X or a squirrel meme doesn’t resonate because it’s the most pressing content. It resonates because it doesn’t make demands; it opens a space of possibility.
And within it you might find unexpected hope. Perhaps the world you want also includes a few more squirrels in shining armor. Mine sure does.
