About

Seal of Approval, also known as Satisfied Seal, is an advice animal image macro series featuring a close-up photograph of a seal with captions containing anecdotes about various gratifying experiences.

Origin

On August 18th, 2007, Flickr^[1] user Rick van Duivenboden uploaded a photograph of a Weddell seal at the Ecomare nature center on the island Texel in the Netherlands (shown below). On November 16th, 2014, Redditor Mictlantecuhtli submitted the photograph to /r/pics in a post titled “This is the most satisfied seal I’ve ever seen,” to which the top voted comment replied “that is a seal of approval.” Prior to being archived, the post gathered upwards of 4,600 votes (93% upvoted) and 240 comments.

Spread

The same day, Redditor boredengineer89 posted an image macro featuring the photograph with the caption “Standing naked over the bathroom vent / with the heat on” (shown below). Before the post was archived, it gained over 4,100 votes (95% upvoted) and 240 comments on the /r/AdviceAnimals^[3] subreddit. On December 11th, Redditor ButterflyPaun submitted a Seal of Approval image macro about a satisfying bowel movement to /r/AdviceAnimals,^[4] garnering more than 3,700 votes (86% upvoted) and 430 comments before it was archived (shown below, right).

On August 11th, 2015, Redditor JeffKnol posted an image macro expressing appreciation for a generous roommate to /r/AdviceAnimals,^[5] receiving upwards of 7,700 votes (96% upvoted) and 640 comments in three months (shown below, left). On August 25th, Redditor BigTom1776 posted a Seal of Approval expressing satisfaction with arresting a man after a road rage incident (shown below, right). In two months, the post garnered over 7,800 votes (95% upvoted) and 1,600 comments on /r/AdviceAnimals.^[6]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

About

Sockington is the name of a domestic cat who gained much online notoriety through a Twitter feed maintained by owner and TextFiles creator Jason Scott.

Origin

In March 2007, the @sockington Twitter feed was launched, featuring photographs of Sockington and tweets written from the cat’s perspective. Over the next eight years, the feed gathered upwards of 1.33 million followers.

Spread

On December 29th, 2008, a Facebook^[5] page for Sockington was created, gaining more than 360,000 likes in the following seven years.

On January 28th, 2009, the Rocketboom YouTube^[1] channel uploaded an interview with Jason Scott about Sockington’s online fame. In February, the @sockington Twitter feed was added to Twitter’s “recommend feeds” list. By May 2010, the @sockington account was the 98th most popular Twitter feed.^[4] On May 17th, People magazine published an article on Sockington (shown below).

On June 2nd, Jason Scott uploaded a montage of video clips and photos of Sockington to YouTube (shown below). On June 22nd, The Daily Beast^[6] published an article about the Sockington Twitter feed tittled “Twitter’s Cat Mega Star.” On October 22nd, 2011, The Independent^[3] published an article about Sockington titled “Twitter’s latest megastar is a cat.”

Search Interest

External References

About

Blizzard Entertainment is a video game development and publishing company based in Irvine, California. The company is known for creating several notable game franchises, including Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo.

History

Warcraft

Orcs & Humans released in 1994 and ending Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne expansion pack, which was released in 2003

World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft was released by American video game developer Blizzard Entertainment on November 23rd, 2004

Hearthstone

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is a free to play digital collectible card game (CCG) that is loosely set in the Warcraft universe.

Diablo

Diablo is an fantasy action role-playing game developed and released by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the fictional Kingdom of Khanduras, the player assumes the role of a lone warrior on a mission to battle and eliminate the reign of Diablo, the Lord of Terror.

Starcraft

StarCraft is a real-time strategy (RTS) game that revolves around three warring races: Terrans, the political castoffs and malcontents of humanity; Zerg, beast-like and savage creatures hailing from the planet Char; and the Protoss, the highly advanced bipedal aliens from the planet Aiur.^[1] The game’s canonical settings take place in the distant future in a sector of the Galaxy known as the Koprulu Sector, where each player must build offensive and defensive units to fight for the control of natural resources.

Blizzcon

2010: Red Shirt Guy

On October 23rd, 2010, a video was uploaded to YouTube showing footage from a Q&A session from that week’s BlizzCon. During the session a red-shirted teenage boy managed to stump Blizzard designer Alex Afrasiabi and loremaster Chris Metzen with a rather obscure question concerning a seemingly minor character in the WoW universe. The teenager was subsequently nicknamed “Red Shirt Guy” by fans online.

2015 Event

On November 6th, 2015, Blizzard released the official trailer for the upcoming film Warcraft at Blizzcon (shown below, left). Additionally, a cinematic for the upcoming World of Warcraft: Legion expansion was revealed (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References

WIP

About

“Circletine” is a viral video by 3exclamationpoint of a family making the beverage “Circletine”. The video is known for it’s absurdity and is commonly parodied.

Origin

The original video was uploaded by 3exclamationpoint on February 17th, 2011. Since then, the video has gained over 1.5 million views, becoming 3exclamationpint’s most viewed video.

Spread

The video was later animated into videos starring many different characters, the first known video being a VenturianTale remix.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References

Stephen Chow (周星馳) is a Hong Kong actor most famous for his comedy films in the 90s and early 2000s.

Notable Films

All for the Winner (賭聖)

The God of Cookery (食神)

Shaolin Soccer (少林足球)

Kung Fu Hustle (功夫)

[WIP but I don’t plan to write much. Jesus guys I cannot believe we didn’t have this page.]

Iowa State vs. Kansas University – Basketball.

In 2013, Adam Rio did this constantly whenever KU scored or made a major advancement, eliciting humerous responses from crowds watching on tv and in stadium. Unfortunately, it is possible that he will not be playing fo KU for much longer – as such, this might not be seen again in the close future.

http://www2.kusports.com/news/2013/apr/03/ku-announces-release-rio-adams/

This is a meme that captures a past event – not an ongoing action. While not receiving much attention in the official meme communities, it is important to note that this has already been memed before, and can be viewed on YouTube and other high-volume sources.

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkKaPBnPcrY

Moon Hitler was invented by Stuart Heritage writing for The Guardian following the release of the 2015 Christmas advert for the John Lewis department store in the UK. Stuart Heritage explains that Moon Hitler is a man who has done something so wrong that he was sent to live as far away as possible from any other human.

In the advert the plot features a young girl using a telescope to view an extremely lonely looking old man sitting on a bench on the moon. She sends him a telescope so he can look back at Earth and see how far away and lonely he is.

Stuart Heritage: "Clearly, the answer is that the old man is a monster. That’s the only logical explanation. Napoleon only got exiled to a Mediterranean island, for crying out loud, and he was Napoleon. But this guy has literally been jettisoned to the moon. He is hundreds of thousands of miles away from the nearest human. What could he possibly have done to warrant such punishment?

How many people must he have killed? How many lives must have been crushed into nothing under his vicious boot? Is he a war criminal? Is that it? Is he Hitler? Is this whole advert just a berserk wish-fulfilment fantasy about how the international community should have treated Hitler if they had caught him before he killed himself? If that’s the case – as I strongly suggest it is – the advert’s slogan probably should have been revised from “Show Someone They’re Loved This Christmas” to “Don’t Give Balloons To Moon Hitler, You Idiot”.

A Moon Hitler is someone who did something which was so wrong they got sent to live on the moon.

Massive WIP

About

“Morty Eye Edits” are a series of edits from a scene of Rick And Morty. The edits typically feature the characters being replaced by characters from other media.

Origin

The original scene came from Episode 1 of Rick and Morty, Pilot, which was released on December 2, 2013. In the scene Rick is showing off a hideous beast to Morty.

Spread

The first recorded use of the image was when it was posted to the Rick And Morty Facebook on November 13 2013, becoming the first post for their facebook page.^[1]

Notable Examples

External References

^[1]Facebook – R&M

Crystal Pepsi was a short-lived, caffeine-free drink sold by Pepsi in the early 90’s.

Early History

Because of a purity fad in the early 90’s, Pepsi decided to cash-in by releasing a crystal-clear variant of their iconic drink. For one whole year, Pepsi released Crystal Pepsi, a caffeine-free version of their drink, and had a huge advertising campaign (most notably the launch ad, featuring Van Halen’s "Right Now)

Quick Decline

Although the initial sales of Crystal Pepsi were strong, the purity fad of the early 90’s was nearly dead. Due to the poor marketing of Crystal Pepsi, with claims of it being a diet alternative, consumers were confused of the drink itself, rationalizing that if they were on a diet, they would be drinking water instead of Pepsi. Crystal Pepsi was quietly discontinued in 1993, and bottles of the drink have become collectors items.

The “Bring Back Crystal Pepsi” Campaign

In 2013, Youtuber L.A. Beast posted a video of him consuming an unopened bottle of Crystal Pepsi, where he vomits it shortly after. The video became viral in a short time, reaching 12,000,000 views as of November 8, 2015.

Because of the popularity of the video, L.A. Beast started a campaign two years later, and was a massive success, with more than 30,000 signatures on his petition to bring back the cola. Later on June 8, L.A. Beast released a video, with the response of PepsiCo. planning to re-sell the drink by the end of 2015.

Because of the sudden success of his campaign, L.A. Beast, in conjunction with That’s Classic, released a Crystal Pepsi music video. It has over 500,000 views as of November 8.

On October 13, 2015, Rooster Teeth did a podcast, talking about the drink, indirectly referencing the consumption videos.

On November 5, 2015, L.A. Beast announced on Twitter that Crystal Pepsi will re-released worldwide on November 29, thus concluding the success of the Crystal Pepsi movement.

Search Interest

Heavy W.I.P

About

Inside Out is a 2015 computer animated film made by Disney.

History

Inside Out was released on June 19, 2015. Starring Amy Poehler as Joy, Bill Hader as Fear, Phyllis Smith as Sadness, Lewis Black as Anger and Miney Kaling as Disgust


W.I.P

Reception

The film was praised from audiences and critics worldwide. IMDb rated the film 8.4, while Rotten Tomatoes gave it a score of 98%.

Impact

W.I.P

Fandom

W.I.P

Related Memes

W.I.P

Search Interest

About

The meme involves creating outrageous biblical explanations for ancient wonders, usually depicting the wonder with Carson’s face overlaid. These also include spinoffs of the Ancient Aliens meme to imply a similar level of absurdity.

Origin

Starting Wednesday, November 4, 2015, a video from 1998 flooded news headlines, including MSNBC, CBS, CNN, Washington Post, and more. In the Andrew’s University commencement speech, Dr. Ben Carson, a 2016 Republican presidential candidate stated that his personal belief is that the Egyptian pyramids were granaries built by the biblical Joseph. In the speech, he proclaimed

“My own personal theory is that Joseph built the pyramids in order to store grain. Now all the archaeologists think that they were made for the pharaoh’s graves, but you know it’d have to be something awfully big, if you stop and think about it, and I don’t think it would just disappear over the course of time to store that much grain, and when you look at the way the pyramids are made, with many chambers that are hermetically sealed, they would have to be that way for a reason. And, you know, various scientists have said ‘well, you know, there were alien beings that came down; they had special knowledge,’ and that’s how they were – you know, doesn’t require an alien being when God is with you.”


When challenged about that belief after the video began spreading, Carson stood by these statements, repeating his previous arguments. After being criticized over the previous months for his creationist and biblical literalist beliefs, this statement has sparked many parody theories about where the ancient wonders came from.

Examples

Source: Idlehands Workshop



“Rocks of this size are but Legos to the faithful. When I was a teenager, I made stonehenges all the time. This particular stonehenge likely served as hang zone for England’s coolest Christian teens.”
Source: Above Average

Fawful (known as Lord Fawful to his minions) is an eccentric Beanish character and a major antagonist in the Mario & Luigi series. He is notable for speaking in Engrish (grammatically incorrect English), a possible satire of low-quality video game translations, and making obscure food metaphors (e.g. “And this battle shall be the delicious mustard on that bread! The mustard of your doom!”). Fawful is a mechanical genius, but his common sense suffers due to his extreme fury, which often causes him to act in a delusional manner. His name comes from the words “guffaw” (a term that refers to a scornful laughter) and “awful”. Mario & Luigi: Dream Team is the only game in the Mario & Luigi series to not feature him.

Towel (Real name Tyler) is the identity of an anonymous hacker. He is infamous for hacking YouTube and Twitter accounts, as well as uploading taunting videos to get reactions out of people.

Short History

Towel started on a standard Twitter account in 2008. It was not until 2015 that Towel made a name for himself. Throughout October and November, Towel hacked a few YouTube (and Twitter) accounts, including Markiplier, YourMovieSucks, Exinthevatican and Lyle McDouchebag.

Lyle McDouchebag Twitter hijack

On November 7, 2015, Towel hacked into Lyle McDouchebag’s Twitter account, and renamed to “Towel McDouchebag.”

As of November 8, Lyle has yet to regain control.

YMS hijack

Also during the same day, Towel managed to hack into YourMovieSucks’ Twitter.

As of November 8, YMS has yet to regain control.

Exinthevatican hijack

On November 4, 2015, Towel most notably hijacked streamer Joel Johansson of Vinesauce. Each day since the hijack, Towel has a released a video at a time, usually proclaiming his ownership of the channel, taunting Joel and the Vinesauce fanbase, as well as attempting to pin the blame on Youtuber tsBastrin.

On November 7 and 8, Towel released a goodbye video, which supposedly meant that Towel would leave the channel. The following day, Towel removed his Day 2 videos, and released a video of him deleting all of Joels videos.

As of November 8, Joel has still to regain control.

About

Dr. Ben Carson is a retired neurosurgeon who ran for the Republican nomination for President in 2016. He is well known for his religious beliefs in Seventh-Day Adventism, his conservative politics, and his controversial statements.

Background

Born in Detroit, Michigan in 1951, Carson studied at Yale and the University of Michigan Medical School. He became the head of Pediatric Neurosurgery at John Hopkins Hospital in Maryland, where he became well-known for performing difficult surgeries including the separation of conjoined twins and hemispherectomies.^[1]

In 1992, he published an autobiography, Gifted Hands, which went into further detail about his childhood and his religious thought; the book became a made-for-TV movie of the same title which aired in 2008 and starred Cuba Gooding Jr.^[2] Carson has published five more books, mostly about applying religious philosophy to modern day life. He is a devout Seventh-Day Adventist. ^[3]

In 2013, Carson became a columnist for the Washington Times^[4] and a commentator on Fox News. In addition, he has worked widely as a motivational speaker, including with a supplement company called Mannatech, which is known for its “multi-level marketing strategies.”^[5]

2016 Presidential Campaign

On May 3rd, 2015, Carson confirmed he was running for the Presidential nomination of the Republican Party via a radio station in Detroit, and the next day he officially announced it at a rally in that city.^[6] Since he has never served in office, Carson is considered by most to be an outsider candidate, like Donald Trump, or Carly Fiorina. His campaign proved to be popular, if plagued by controversy. As of October 28th, 2015, a CNN poll indicated that Carson was leading in the race.^[7]

Background Controversy

Some aspects of Carson’s background, as depicted in his autobiography, have come into dispute. For instance, an account for the book in which Ben Carson attempts to stab a childhood friend, but instead only stabs the friend’s belt buckle has been contested; it is unclear if it was a friend or a relative, and if the incident ever actually happened at all.^[8]

In addition, on November 6th, Carson’s assertion that he had been “offered a full scholarship” to the American military academy West Point was contested by a variety of political reporters, who claimed that not only did Carson never apply to West Point, but that West Point is free for all attendees and therefore a scholarship is impossible.^[9]

Controversial Statements

In addition to controversy surrounding his background, Carson has made many controversial statements in his speeches and writings. On September 4th, 2015, while appearing on Meet the Press, Carson declared that he did not believe that Muslims could not legally be president, saying, “I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that.” He also declared that he believed the Muslim religion to be unconstitutional.^[10]

On Wednesday, November 4th, 2015, Buzzfeed^[11] found footage from a 1998 commencement speech made by Carson at Andrews University indicating that Carson believed that the Egyptian Pyramids were not, as archaeologists say, used as burial tombs by the Egyptians, but rather built by Joseph to store grain during his enslavement by the Pharaoh, as depicted in the Old Testament. When questioned that day on the topic by CBS News, Carson said, “Yes, this is still my belief.”^[12]

Various media outlets, including The Christian Post^[17] and the Mail Online,^[18] have written articles regarding Carson’s outspoken creationist beliefs, in particular a 2011 speech in which he claimed that evolution was “encouraged” by “Satan”.

Online Presence

Carson has presences on all social networks, including Twitter, where he has over 886,000 followers as of November 7, 2015.^[13] On Facebook, his official profile is liked by over 4.6 million users,^[14] and the /r/bencarson subreddit, founded in 2013, has 198 readers.^[15] His official YouTube channel has over 15,000 subscribers and the most viewed video has over 520,000 views.^[16]

Search Interest

External References

Joaje is a fake word, created by playing the first syllable of “Joke” and then repeating the first syllable backwards. It originated from a YouTube video called Her Aim Is Getting Better The Movie, or HAIGB, created by user EnlargedPotato.

About

Perplexed Bill Nye is a photoshop meme featuring a cutout image of Bill Nye walking down a street while holding a cigarette, which is often photoshopped on to various action film and television posters.

Origin

On October 17th, 2015, National Geographic^[1] published a photograph of Bill Nye, taken by photographer Chris Cassel, walking down the middle of a road while smoking a cigarette (shown below). The picture was meant to illustrate Nye’s feelings of despair when confronted with evidence about climate change.

Spread

On November 4th, Redditor avemae10 posted the photograph to the /r/pics^[2] subreddit, where it gained over 5,000 votes (90% upvotes) and 1,200 comments in five days. The same day, Redditor Chipper_chap submitted the picture in a post titled “Perplexed Bill Nye” to the /r/photoshopbattles^[3] subreddit, where several users posted photoshopped images of Nye in scenes from various films and television shows (shown below).

On November 5th, a compilation of images from the /r/photoshopbattles submitted to 9gag,^[4] where it gathered upwards of 11,800 points and 230 comments. The following day, UpRoxx^[5] published an article about the Bill Nye photoshops. The same day, Redditor phc_me submitted a post asking about the Bill Nye photoshopped movie posters to the /r/OutOfTheLoop^[7] subreddit.

Various Examples

Search Interest

Not available.

External References

About

Rumblr is an app developed to match those who would like to engage in fist fighting with other users in the immediate geographic vicinity would also like to fight. Based on the interface of dating sites like Tinder or Grindr, the app allows users to not only match with others looking for a fight, but also to view the physical locations of fights happening in the area for the purposes of viewing or attending.

History

The Twitter account for Rumblr first tweeted on October 29th,^[2] and the domain getrumblr.com was first registered on October 30th, according to the WhoIs database.^[1] It was reported by the New York Daily News that the team of developers who were creating Rumblr worked from Soho, in New York City. In an email with the reporter, the team claimed that the app was ready to go as of November 9th, when a web-only beta launch would occur, but that the mobile app was waiting on App Store approval.^[3]

However, later that day, reporter James Cook of Business Insider claimed that the app was fake, invented by two men named Matt Henderson and Jack Kim, as a publicity stunt. However, it was unclear what the app was meant to promote.^[4]

Features

According to screenshots released on the promotional web site, the app offers “Casualty-free casual fighting for free.” Users can anonymously view profiles and then choose who they would like to fight. If two users both choose each other, they are matched, and prompted to choose a central geographic locations. That location is added to a public map available to all users in the area.^[1]

As of 5 pm on November 9th, 2015, a web-only beta was set to be released to the first 2,000 users who signed up for the getrumblr.com mailing list. According to the New York Daily News, the Rumblr team said “We have raised relatively substantial funding from private American investors and the app is fully developed.”^[3]

In addition, Rumblr promised the additional features of “RumblrHER” which would only match women with other women interested in fighting, and a group matching function to encourage brawling.

Online Presence

As of November 9th, 2015, Rumblr has established only a Twitter profile and a web site. The Twitter profile, which has tweeted more than 1,800 times in just 10 days, has just over 1,000 followers.^[2] In addition, Rumblr was mentioned by other users on Twitter more than 10,000 times.^[5] Traditional news about the app has been widespread as well, including articles in many mainstream publications like the New York Daily News, New York Magazine, and an interview with a local television station in Tuscon, Arizona.

Search Interest

Note: This search interest mostly refers to the Tumblr Rumblr blog, which sets two separate Tumblr users against each other in a fan art battle, and Rumblr girls, a Tumblr featuring women of Tumblr.

External References

Overview

The 2015 University of Missouri Protests refers demonstrations held against former University of Missouri (MU) system president Tim Wolfe for his response to several race-related incidents in late 2015. The protests were organized by the group Concerned Student 1950, which references the first year African American students were admitted to MU.

Background

On September 12th, 2015, the Missouri Students Association president Payton Head published a Facebook^[4] post claiming to have been called a “nigger” while walking through campus by several unidentified men driving by in a pickup truck (shown below).

On October 5th, the Legion of Black Collegians tweeted^[6] a letter claiming to have been called “niggers” while at a rehearsal at Traditions Plaza at MU. On October 10th, a protest formed by the group Concerned Student 1950 was held at the MU Homecoming Parade, where a car carrying Tim Wolfe was blocked by demonstrators. On October 21st, the Concerned Student 1950 group issued a list of eight demands, which included mandatory racial awareness training for faculty, an increase in black faculty and an apology from Wolfe in which he “must acknowledge his white privilege” before stepping down from office.^[7] On October 24th, a swastika drawn out of human feces was found in a bathroom at MU’s Gateway Hall, which Residence Halls Association President Billy Donley described as “an act of hate.”^[8] On November 2nd, MU student Jonathan Butler began a hunger strike until Wolfe was removed from office. On November 4th, a petition was created on Change.org^[3] to remove Tim Wolfe from office, which garnered upwards of 7,100 signatures in the next week.

Notable Developments

Demonstrations

In the coming days, several demonstrations against Wolfe were held on campus. On November 6th, Twitter user @Qiana_Jade uploaded footage of Wolfe addressing students about systematic oppression. After being asked what he thought it was, he replied “systematic oppression is because you don’t believe that you have the equal opportunity for success” (shown below).

On Twitter

On November 7th, Twitter user 1Sherrils_2MIZZ^[9] tweeted an announcement that “athletes of color” on the MU football team would no longer participate in football activities until Wolfe’s removal from office (shown below, left). On the following day, University of Missouri head football coach Gary Pinkel tweeted “We are behind our players” along with the “ConcernedStudent1950” hashtag (shown below, right). Within 24 hours, the tweet gathered upwards of 15,000 retweets and 13,500 likes.^[1]

Wolfe’s Resignation

On November 9th, Wolfe announced he was resigning from office amid the controversy. That day, a post about the resignation was submitted to the /r/news^[10] subreddit, where many debated the validity of the protester’s demands. Within 24 hours, the post received upwards of 1,400 votes (87% upvoted) and 1,900 comments. The same day, YouTuber Mark Schierbecker uploaded footage of reporters being harassed by protesters at the university for taking photographs of a tent village (shown below).

Search Interest

External References

About

The Witcher is a media franchise comprised of several books, short stories, and video games. The novels are written by Polish
novelist, Andrzej Sapkowski while the games are produced by game developer CD Projekt Red. A live action film adaptation is also in production with a 2017 release date and is planned to be the first in a series. They follow the exploits of Geralt of Rivia, a genetically modified monster hunter for hire. Both the books and games have been well received with the games being considered some of the best RPGs ever made.

Premise
The Witcher is set in a fantasy world filled with various races and monsters. The world’s geography can be divided into three main parts. The Northern Kingdoms, The Nilfgaardian Empire, and The Skellige Islands. Centuries before the events of the books and games an event know as the Conjunction of the Spheres occurred where the world of The Witcher intersected with another which let many of the monsters seen in the series into the world and is also thought to have brought humans into the world. Centuries after the Conjunction of the Spheres humans have replaced the Elder Races (Elves, Dwarfs, Halflings) as the dominate race of the world. To combat the many monsters that had infested the world humans invented a process know as the Trial of the Grasses which gave the children it was used on super human strength and reflexes and also reduced aging but had a very low success rate and left the ones who survived infertile. While the Witchers are humanities best way of exterminating monsters they are detested by many of the inhabitance of the world. The main protagonist of the series, Geralt is one of these Witchers.

History
The first entry in The Witcher was a collection of short stories published in 1990 simply known as “The Witcher”. It was followed by “Sword of Destiny” in 1992 and “The Last Wish” in 1993. After these short stories a series of full length novels began starting with “Blood of Elves” in 1994. It was followed by "Time of Contempt in 1995, “Baptism of Fire” in 1996, “The Swallow’s Tower” in 1997, and “Lady of the Lake” in 1999. In 2007 A video game based on the books simply titled “The Witcher” was released on October 26th 2007. It was developed by CD Projekt Red and takes place after the events of the books. A sequel titled “The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings” was released on May 17th 2011 and was also developed by CD Projekt Red. CD Projekt Red released the third game titled “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt” was released on May 19th 2015. It has been announced that a live action film adaptation that will take themes from the two short stories “The Witcher” and “Lesser Evil” is in production with a 2017 release and is planned to be the first in a series.

Reception
The Witcher games have received critical acclaim. On the site Metacritic Assassins of Kings has a 88 average metascore and Wild Hunt has 92 average metascore. Wild Hunt also won every award it was nominated for in the 2015 Golden Joystick Awards. The games are often praised for their open world design, combat systems, voice acting, and story telling. The games have also been a financial success with Wild Hunt selling over 6 million copies in only 6 weeks.

Overview

Starbucks Red Holiday Cup Controversy refers to the backlash directed toward the Starbucks coffee company for their 2015 red holiday cup design, which some Christians found offensive for not including traditional Christmas imagery.

Background

On November 1st, 2015, Starbucks^[3] unveiled their new solid red holiday cup design (shown below).

On November 5th, Christian vlogger Joshua Feuerstein posted a video to Facebook^[1] asking viewers to provide the name “Merry Christmas” to Starbucks baristas and to post the results online with the hashtag “#MerryChristmasStarbucks” (shown below). Within five days, the video gained over 500,000 shares, 178,000 likes and 51,900 comments. The same day, the conservative news site Breitbart^[4] published an article titled “War on Christmas: Starbucks Red Cups Are Emblematic of the Christian Cleansing of the West.”

Notable Developments

Starbucks’ Response

On November 8th, Starbucks released a statement^[2] about the cup design, claiming it was created to provide a “blank canvas” for customers to doodle on.

On Twitter

On November 9th, Twitter user @JamilahLemieux^[5] posted photographs of the Starbucks cup with a cutout of Ben Carson’s Jesus painting pasted on the side (shown below, left). Within 24 hours, the tweet gained over 2,300 likes and 1,800 retweets. Meanwhile, other Twitter users began mocking the backlash in containing the hashtag #ItsJustACup (shown below, middle, right).^[6][7]

Also on November 9th, actor Rob Lowe tweeted his disapproval of the design along with the company’s “#RaceTogether” campaign (shown below).^[8]

Donald Trump’s Response

During a campaign rally in Illinois on November 9th, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump flippantly proposed a boycott of Starbucks over the cup design:

“I have one of the most successful Starbucks, in Trump Tower. Maybe we should boycott Starbucks. I don’t know. Seriously. I don’t care. By the way: That’s the end of that lease. But who cares? Who cares? Who cares?”

News Media Coverage

On November 9th, CNN broadcast a segment on the cups featuring an interview with Feuerstein, in which he explained his criticism of the cup design (shown below). The following day, the video reached the front page of the /r/cringe^[9] subreddit, where it gathered more than 1,300 votes (91% upvoted) and 330 comments within 14 hours. In the coming days, several news sites published articles about the controversy, including CNBC,^[10] The New York Times,^[11] Forbes^[12] and The Atlantic.^[13]

Search Interest

External References