University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

The authentic meme

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The authentic meme

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Content THE AUTHENTIC MEME
By Michael Nathan Bronstein
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ANNENBERG SCHOOL FOR COMMUNICATION AND JOURNALISM
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
Master of Arts
(STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS)
May 2022
Copyright 2022 Michael Nathan Bronstein

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Table of Contents
Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………….......iv
Chapter 1: Introduction…………..……………………………………………………………………..…1
Explaining Memes...………………………….………………………………………………..….4
Hypothesis Outlined and Authenticity………………………………………………………...……...…..5
Chapter 2: Understanding Memes….....................................................................................................…...7
History of the Meme……………………………………………………………………………....7
Why Memes Go Viral…………………………………………………………..………………..11
Memes as Language and Comprehending What Is Being Spoken……...……………………….13
Chapter 3: Gen Z Psychology……………………..……………………………………………………..17
The Psychology of Gen Z and Millennial Audiences……………………………………………17
Why Gen Z and Millennials Crave Authenticity………………………………………………...19
Posy-Post Irony…………………………………………………………………………………..22
Chapter 4: Case Studies in Brand Meme Usage…………………………………………………………24
Slim Jim…………………………………………………………………………….……………24
McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s…………………………………………………………….28
Duolingo………………………………………………………………………………................31
Chapter 5: Understanding TikTok…………………..…………………………………………………...33
The TikTok Algorithm…………………………………………………………………………...33
TikTok Sounds………………………………………………………………………...................36
The Speed of TikTok…………………….……...……………………………………………….39
Brands on TikTok………………………………………………………………………………..41
Chapter 6: Concluding Thoughts…………………...……………………………………………………43
References……..………………………..………………………………………………………………..46

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ABSTRACT: Memes have been a powerful tool for brand marketing in the past; however, I believe
modern-day Gen Z and Millennial consumers are more intelligent, more cynical, and expect more from
brands who try to use memes and internet-speak when marketing to them. This paper gives an educated
argument for US-Centric brands and businesses that want to market to young audiences. Through a
holistic view of memes historically, analysis of TikTok’s effect, and a hypothesis for brands, this paper
acts to create options for how brands can appear authentic to Gen Z and Millennial individuals and
create the “Authentic Meme” in their adverting.
Chapter 1: Introduction
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Chapter 1: Introduction
On September 8th, 2021, TikTok user Emily Zugay (@emilyzugay on TikTok) created a viral
video on the popular social media app TikTok, that she had no idea would make her a "brand logo
consultant."
Emily claimed to have gone to college to study graphic design and took it upon herself to
redesign brand logos that she felt were insufficient to modern design standards. She began with
Starbucks; while giving legitimate criticism of the coloration and design of the logo, Zugay showcased
her knowledge of graphic design. However, Zugay then shows her redesign to be far worse in the next
second. On the screen appeared a terrible redesign of the original Starbucks logo; Zugay’s design
featured a five-pointed star with a tacky font that read "starrbucks.com." (TikTok, 1) Zugay evokes
laughter from her viewers by maintaining a serious demeanor while creating logos that are entirely
unappealing and illogical. Despite her violations of all aesthetic guidelines, she claims with complete
confidence how much of an upgrade her work is. She then did the same shtick for four other brands.
That one video went viral and garnered Zugay nearly 14 million views and 5 million likes on the TikTok
app. She then created a second version of the video after seeing its success, wherein she redesigned the
logo for NASA. Again, after giving a legitimate critique, Zugay showed her design as just "NASA" in
that exact font behind a white background (TikTok, 2). Although the second video garnered 10 million
views, 4 million less than her first, Zugay caught something interesting, a comment from Adobe, the
multimedia software company’s official TikTok account, asking for their logo to be redesigned.
One week after her original video, Zugay created the third version in that style with the Adobe
comment front and center. She redesigned brand logos for Tampax, NASCAR, Tinder, Ocean Spray,
The Detroit Lions, and Adobe. Within this video, Zugay upped her antics of misunderstanding basic
Chapter 1: Introduction
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graphic design by not understanding how to spell the names of the companies she was "helping,” which
added humor. For example, in redesigning The Detroit Lions logo, Zugay said, "Detroit Lines" (TikTok,
3). She then showed her logo of just four lines and told them that it would be perfect for sports jerseys.
Along with that, Zugay recreated the logo for The Washington Post to have a picture of President
George W. Bush, who she claimed was “George W. Washington”. The new design, as Emily stated, was
more aligned with the brand identity of the Washington Post. Finally, for Adobe, Zugay recreated the
logo to be blocky, multi-colored, faded and had the name ABODE in the center, this being the
masterpiece of her “designs.”
Although Adobe's comment was just a playful gimmick to Zugay, she noticed a change in how
brands on TikTok began representing themselves. Tinder, Tampax, NASCAR, The Washington Post,
and the Detroit Lions changed their logos on TikTok based on her redesign. More than that, on her third
video, hundreds upon hundreds of brands began asking for Zugay to redesign their brand logos too,
claiming her to be the "brand logo expert." The joke continued to some of the most profitable
corporations, where Amazon, whose logo Zugay also recently recreated on the app, made a video
showing them changing their logo to her design. The music in the video is a terrible, off-beat version of
"Jingle Bells" played on the flute. (TikTok, 4)
The entire bizarre sequence of events is not a gimmick but more of a shift in the ideology behind
brand marketing. Companies use modern ironic/parody humor or “meme humor” to connect with young
consumers. By not taking themselves so seriously and jumping on online trends that circulate when a
meme becomes popular, brands cultivate a more “authentic” connection between the brand and the
consumer. However, does this achieve anything tangible for the brand, or is it just playing along with a
trend?
Chapter 1: Introduction
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Within this specific scenario, we see a creator make a joke of brand logo design by creating a
worse logo. Although viewers are laughing on the other side of the screen, brands take this seriously and
jump at this newfound opportunity to generate more sales in the long-term by creating “views” and
“interactions”. Views are tracked on TikTok based on the number of people who watch a video and likes
and comments (interactions) can be tracked by looking at the bar on the right of the video. For
companies like Adobe, views and likes on Zugay’s TikToks mean that
TikTok’s algorithm becomes more intelligent and more refined by suggesting content related to
Adobe and the services they offer (we will discuss the TikTok algorithm later in the paper). By creating
content that causes users to engage, brands get people to talk about the company. Brands are utilizing
TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter to become a part of the meme conversation to create the engagement
they need for their communication efforts. Brands are participating in the joke with Zugay to become a
part of the conversation online and to gain notoriety from consumers. Although this action does not do
much for the brand in the short term, consumers who witness the brand identity change based on the
meme will respect the brand as part of the joke, in my view. We can witness the shift in brand
perception based on the comments that users make on brand content (an issue we will also discuss later
in the paper).
Brand marketing through meme and meme humor has been successful in the past for several
companies, and as such, we can see on apps like Tiktok, Twitter, and Instagram that brands are using the
format to connect with consumers. However, using memes as a form of strategic communication has
become more normalized, thus brands are faced with a problem. To successfully use memes as a
practice, brands must appear "authentic" in being in on the joke. Therefore, in using memes as a form of
brand storytelling, corporations’ risk having the entire action backfire and appear "cringe" (embarrassing
Chapter 1: Introduction
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or fake) in the process. This paper creates a roadmap of understanding how to make the original or
"authentic" meme in brand storytelling.
Explaining Memes
So, then, what are memes exactly? As Professor Limor Schiffman, author of “Memes in Digital
Culture,” puts it, memes are "digital content units with common characteristics, created with awareness
of each other, and circulated, imitated, and transformed via the Internet by many users."
1
An inherent
subgenre of internet language used by Millennials and Gen Z audiences, memes are linguistic capital
and serve as a form of relatability. Memes showcase the combination of multimedia from the different
angles of the internet and go viral when something unique and funny is shared between the online users
of varying platforms. For example, on
Instagram and Twitter, we can witness how McDonald’s or Wendy’s accounts will insult one another in
terms used by young audiences who use memes in dialogue with one another. Additionally, we also see
brands create memes based on current trends in the hopes of having that meme go viral to generate
greater brand awareness. At the same time, modern-day audiences are suspicious and critical of brands
2
.
They know that brands are consistently looking to jump on trends to make money, an action that GenZ

1
Lechner, I. (2020, April 13). Meme marketing: The next generation of advertising. Medium. Retrieved
February 20, 2022, from https://medium.com/magic-media/meme-marketing-the-nextgeneration-of-
advertising-75799c755307
2
Havas' meaningful brands report 2021 finds we are entering the age of cynicism. Havas Group.
(n.d.).Retrieved December 5, 2021, from https://www.havasgroup.com/press_release/havasmeaningful-
brands-report-2021-finds-we-are-entering-the-age-of-cynicism/.

Chapter 1: Introduction
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is particularly wary about. This makes the challenge of creating original and genuine meme content even
more difficult.
Hypothesis Outlined
My argument draws an avenue for brands to effectively use meme marketing to Gen Z and Millennial
youth in US-Centric markets. There is a three-pronged approach to do this. First is the element of speed;
memes go viral almost instantly and often disappear within weeks, if not days. Thus, brands must race
against the clock to capitalize off of the latest trend. The second element is research. It takes time to
understand what is being said in a meme and how to further the joke. Lastly, and most importantly, the
brand must be witty. Simply riffing off the humor will not be enough. The brand needs to understand its
place within the public eye, know how to take a joke, and understand how to laugh at itself
Authenticity
This paper addresses the idea of authenticity multiple times throughout to explain how brands
can connect with young users. The concept of authenticity has various meanings in the paper that must
be comprehended. Authenticity's dictionary definition is, to be honest, or genuine, and for a brand, that
can be challenging when using memes that are authentic. Memes come naturally from the people, and
they are seen as inauthentic when coming from a brand. So, a brand must understand that to be authentic
means, first, not to disrupt the natural order of the meme cycle. A meme must come from the user, and a
brand can jump on a meme trend and act on it, but it cannot make its own meme.
The second definition of authenticity discussed in the section of "Gen Z Psychology" is to
express how Gen Z demands that corporations focus on social/environmental issues and do not
compromise their moral/ethical values. Gen Z and consumers today are cynical of brands and corporate
Chapter 1: Introduction
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acts. With the availability of Google and wealth of information, Gen Z can comprehend the background
actions when brands are marketing to them. Authenticity in that section will describe how brands can
work around cynicism and appear trustworthy by acting on Gen Z's issues.

Chapter 2: Understanding Memes
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Chapter 2: Understanding Memes
History of the Meme
Although it may be surprising to know, memes have existed for far longer since the beginning
of the internet.
3
Historians can date back the first meme to 3 B.C.E. An archeologist uncovered a
mosaic in Antioch, Greece, of a skeleton holding a piece of bread in one hand and a glass of wine in
another with the inscription reading "Be cheerful, live your life." The image below gave us one of the
main defining features of the meme, the visual element.
Figure 1

According to evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, a meme itself is a cultural unit of
information. The images we have shared through the centuries are our customs, cultures, ideals, and

3
Public Broadcasting Service. (2021, May 7). From Kilroy to Pepe: A brief history of memes. PBS.
Retrieved December 2, 2021, from https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/from-kilroyto-pepe-a-
brief-history-of-memes/.

Chapter 2: Understanding Memes
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ideas. We can date memes as visual representations of jokes, feelings, and thoughts in different parts of
human history. For example, within more recent history, an image of a comic book character was seen
throughout the walls of German battlefields in WW2 with the inscription of "Kilroy was here" found
with it.
4

Figure 2

I believe that memes serve a unique identity as a kind of inside-joke humor between the
generations of people living in the zeitgeist. However, as we move to today, we can note how the
internet blasted that idea into a far more normalized phenomenon. As the internet became more helpful
in modern-day society, comedy within internet virality did too. As a result, memes became more popular

4
Public Broadcasting Service. (2021, May 7). From Kilroy to Pepe: A brief history of memes. PBS.
Retrieved December 2, 2021, from https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/from-kilroyto-pepe-a-
brief-history-of-memes/.
Chapter 2: Understanding Memes
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as images of relatability and light humor around 2006. The most famous case of early memes is Grumpy
Cat, seen in the below image:
Figure 3

However, as more people went online, the idea of what memes are and stand for began to evolve.
As such, memes are quick to live and die. Users share them consistently, and any joke or comedic gag
can only last so long. There are some outliers in the history of memes, jokes that have impacted the way
memes are seen and how the public perceives them.
The most famous case of this is in 2016, after the death of Harambe, the gorilla. Harambe was
living in the Cincinnati Zoo and was shot suddenly after a small child fell into his enclosure.
5
Although
the death of Harambe was tragic, the internet made light of the tragedy. As news circled around and
around, the internet noticed, and soon enough, Harambe memes were hitting the web. One comedian
made a joke to honor the fallen gorilla; men should take out their

5
Michelle Gregg: 5 fast facts you need to know. Heavy.com. Retrieved December 5, 2021, from
https://heavy.com/news/2016/05/michelle-gregg-cincinnati-zoo-mother-mom-name-gorillaharambe-
facebook-photos-son-petition/.

Chapter 2: Understanding Memes

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genitalia in his name, indicating some form of solace in the act.
6
Some memes imagined what heaven
looked like, to which an image of the gorilla with angel wings was described. The memes appeared t in
droves as people found new ways to "honor" the gorilla by laughing at his death. They showed Harambe
not only dying for the child but also dying for our sins, for our memes, for socialism, for communism;
Harambe had been killed for a purpose beyond himself.
Figure 4

These memes became so viral that the story of Harambe was taken out of context, and the idea of
a gorilla dying for a cause took hold. However, his case is significant because it was the first indication
that memes are here to stay.

6
Hsieh, C. (2018, March 16). "dicks out for harambe": How 2 average guys started the year's most
controversial meme. Cosmopolitan. Retrieved February 20, 2022, from
https://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a8354653/dicks-out-for-harambe-internets-mostfascinating/

Chapter 2: Understanding Memes

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From the first meme-mosaic in Antioch to a meme-worthy gorilla, it is clear that memes have
traversed centuries. However, understanding meme history is not enough to make a brand successful in
its marketing strategy. We must also understand how and why memes go viral.
Why Memes Go Viral

Memes are an inherent fleeting form of comedy in the online world. No joke or comedic gag can
last more than a couple of days, and Tiktok/Twitter creators typically have no more than fifteen minutes
of fame. Memes and their virality are due to the culture and design of the internet. There are a couple of
specific reasons why the internet aids in the circularity and popularity of memes: the freedom from Net
Neutrality, the intense amount of information brought forth by Google and others, and the excessive
quantity of people who use social media networks to create a culture of memes. First, memes can
circulate because of a critical economic Federal Communication Commission (FCC) regulation called
Net Neutrality
7
. Net neutrality allows all forms of data and information to flow freely on the internet
without the hindrance of
Internet Service Providers (ISP), who would charge a premium for data to reach consumers. This freedom
ultimately allows all information from news media sources, streaming sites, and websites like Reddit,
Facebook, and Twitter to reach consumers simultaneously. The free flow of data allows for memes to
circle the web quickly and allows for information to reach consumers as fast as it happens, in real-time.
Secondly, memes are shared and become viral through the internet due to increased accessibility
to information on Google. What does this mean for memes and meme culture? It means memes need the

7
Finley, K. (2018, March 1). Net neutrality: Here's everything you need to know. Wired.
Retrieved February 20, 2022, from https://www.wired.com/story/guide-net-neutrality/
Chapter 2: Understanding Memes

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information to be created and memes require knowledge and relevance of topics or situations happening
in the world to be understood. With the bulk of information procurable on the internet, the amount of
content available for memes to be created is immeasurable.
For this reason, it is not surprising that a meme can be relevant for just five minutes before it is
thrown away into cyberspace obscurity. The online world’s wealth and richness of information create a
culture of memes constantly wanting more.
Lastly, memes are prominent in modern society based on the number of people on social media that
are sharing them with their friends. There are roughly 4.5 billion people on social media today, creating
a vast and easily accessed market.
8

With this mass, memes can become more prominent in society and are seen by more and more
people as they circulate social media websites and allow a larger audience to see them. In their actions,
relatability, circulation online, and consistent ability to be shared, memes reach every form of society.
In this way, memes become a form of language and speech, as they create ways to communicate
relatable topics, comedic jokes, and different ways of thinking. Thus memes make a kind of linguistic
capital. The idea of linguistic capital is based on a philosophical concept from linguist Pierre Bourdieu,
who wrote in his book Language and Symbolic Power (1982) that "within a field, individuals occupy
positions determined by the number of different types of capital they possess."
9
This means that in the

8
Statistic. Retrieved December 20, 2021, from https://backlinko.com/social-media-users

9
Bourdieu, P., & Thompson, J. B. (1991). Language and symbolic power: The economy of linguistic
exchanges. Cambridge: Polity in association with Basil Blackwell

Chapter 2: Understanding Memes

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sense of memes and meme culture, their prominence in society creates a field where individuals can
garner cultural capital by having a solid understanding of memes and meme culture.
We have explored the history of memes and the reason for memes going viral online. However,
for brands to properly use memes in communication, we have to next look at how memes have changed
from just a joke online to a full-fledged language that is used between online users.
Memes as Language and Comprehending What Is Being Spoken

To get the best understanding of memes within our culture today, I attended a meme festival in
New York called "The Meme in the Moment." There, journalists and branding experts talked about how
memes have changed how we think, along with how memes are used in our everyday language. The first
speaker was Jamie Cohen, Ph.D. in Media and Assistant Professor at Queens College in New York, who
presented that memes are part of a derivative world
10
and are now a part of the culture that affects the
world outside of the internet. The best way to comprehend this idea is to look at previously discussed
memes. Memes are constantly changing based on a socio-temporal context. Although some like
Harambe exist universally, most are ever-changing and fighting for survival against the memes before
them.
Understanding how memes derive from one another will be essential for a brand to understand
how to use meme language online when talking to young audiences properly. Since memes die out as
quickly as they become popular, consistently watching popular meme trends as they happen will be

10
Cohen, J. (2021, August). We Live in a Derivative World. Meme in the Moment Festival. New York
City; 21 A Clinton Street, Manhattan.

Chapter 2: Understanding Memes

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imperative for brands to understand the meme of tomorrow and not to appear cringe when using memes
in communication.
Later on, at the same festival, I enjoyed another talk by Jenny Chang, Brand Strategist and
Cultural Theorist & Dr. Anastasia Kārklina Gabriel, Cultural Strategist and Researcher at Duke
University.
11
They discussed how memes are so normalized that they have become abstract language.
But, like any language, to understand, one needs cultural competency and cultural context.
However, the idea of memes as language is not new; Losandra Gundlach, a Linguistics Scholar,
has talked about memes as speech acts.
12
We use gifs, TikToks, and memes in the same way we use
language to describe a situation. More recently, memes have evolved into expressions through emojis
and symbols that we apply to real-world actions. For example, in Figure 5, we can see how the pleading
face emoji and hand emojis are used in text to indicate shyne

11
Chang, J & Kārklina Gabriel, A. (2021, August). Please Meme Responsibly. Meme in the Moment
Festival. New York City; 21 A Clinton Street, Manhattan.
12
Chang, J & Kārklina Gabriel, A. (2021, August). Please Meme Responsibly. Meme in the Moment
Festival. New York City; 21 A Clinton Street, Manhattan.

Chapter 2: Understanding Memes

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Figure 5

As well, we see today how the eye emoji with the lip emoji in between means surprise.
Figure 6

Again, there are no words needed to express this, but instead, it is the cultural context that creates
the idea.
Chapter 2: Understanding Memes

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Further, it has become more normalized for people to use the internet-speak in the real world. As
a result, we see young audiences use terms like "it's the ____ for me" or other terms of language from
Twitter in real life.
13
The term “it’s the ____ for me” refers to a form of slight that
Gen Z uses jokingly against one another, such as commenting on someone’s makeup with “it’s the
cakey foundation for me.” When young people say these terms, they take on the same characteristics
that terms like "peace be with you" do for people in the Catholic faith as a form of understanding a
shared reference. If brands can study and understand this type of internet language, they can use it to
create a more authentic appearance of the brand in the online world.
So far in this paper, we have analyzed the history of memes, why they go viral, the
transformation of memes into language, and case studies of how brands have used memes and meme
language in their communications efforts. We next move into understanding the audience of Gen Z and
Millennials. This generation is judgmental of brands and marketing efforts to appeal to them.
Understanding this will be necessary for brands to create a more authentic perception from their target
audience.

13
Chang, J & Kārklina Gabriel, A. (2021, August). Please Meme Responsibly. Meme in the Moment
Festival. New York City; 21 A Clinton Street, Manhattan.

Chapter 3: Gen Z Psychology
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Chapter 3: Gen Z Psychology

The Psychology of Gen Z and Millennial Audiences

As a Zillenial myself (a person born on the cusp of Millennial and Gen Z), I have a somewhat
strong understanding of how Gen Z sees brands. To get a complete picture I talked to
Cassandra Orion, VP of Youth Culture at Golin, one of the largest global PR firms. In Orion’s view,
Gen Z audiences distrust the world around them and how the United States government seems incapable
of acting on racial, ecological, and more significant geopolitical issues.
14
Impending environmental and
societal crises have sparked activism within Gen Z audiences. We can look into the negative world view
of Gen Z by analyzing Morning Consults, a data-collecting platform on geopolitical and economic
issues.
15

According to Gen Z Worldview Tracker on Morning Consults, Gen Z now sees the pandemic
and Black Lives Matter movement as the two most impactful events of their lifetimes. In addition, 75
percent of Gen Z respondents say the coronavirus outbreak has significantly impacted their worldview,
and 68 percent say the same about the Black Lives Matter movement, up 21 points since April.
Trust in U.S. institutions is falling across the board. When the study was done from April to June
of 2020 the average trust rating for 15 major institutions has dropped from 56 percent to

14
Bronstein, M. (n.d.). Interview with Cassandra Orion. other
15
How 2020 is impacting Gen z's worldview. Morning Consult. (2020, July 6). Retrieved December 5,
2021, from https://morningconsult.com/form/gen-z-worldview-tracker/.

Chapter 3: Gen Z Psychology
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46 percent. The most significant declines are with the police (24-point drop in trust), the U.S.
government (-17), the criminal justice system (-14), and the news media (-13).
Gen Z are less optimistic about the future but increasingly believe they can shape it. Just 19
percent of Gen Z respondents say the U.S. is heading in the right direction, down 12 points since May
2021. And 52 percent are generally optimistic about the future of the country, down six points since
May 2021. At the same time, 62 percent of Gen Z agree they can impact the world, up 6 points since
May 2021.
Beyond that alone, Gen Z has had to live through the impact of 9/11, President Trump's election,
consistent mass shootings, the #MeToo movement, and the 2008 financial crisis. All of these national
events have given American Gen Z audiences a view that tends to desire some form of change, and most
recently, that change is seen in the needs of the companies that they buy from to operate in a principled,
honest, ethical, and empathetic way towards their workers and the environment.
Online, especially on TikTok, you can see posts made by young users pointing out how
corporate greed, governmental corruption, environmental collapse, and general inequality have placed
them in a much more challenging position to find success. Gen Z audience’s feel that the need for
change is necessary, but they feel powerless in doing so. However, Gen Z can find some control in
knowing that their desire for authenticity can motivate large corporations to focus on corporate social
responsibility. Gen Z has the power to push brands to focus on pressing global issues that they may have
otherwise ignored.
16

16
School, E. B. & L. (2019, June 13). Corporate Social Responsibility, purpose brands and Gen- z. Forbes.
Retrieved February 20, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/esade/2019/03/13/csr-purpose-brands-
and-genz/?sh=496634ce1584

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Certain memes from Gen Z audiences also showcase a constant need for activism. Through
memes and internet culture, we can see how Gen Z audiences are so quick to identify dis-ingenuity from
brands. (TikTok, 5). To get around the critical eye of Gen Z and appear authentic, I believe corporations
need to fix internal and external issues within their corporations.
Why Gen Z and Millennials Crave Authenticity

As discussed previously, memes are a timestamp of the cultural zeitgeist that a generation lives
through and are based on ideas formed from media. Because of this, no company or organization creates
memes; instead memes are made by people. An average user online will have an idea for a joke based on
things they see around them and post it as a meme with a mixture of sound and visuals to a medium like
TikTok, Reddit, or even Instagram.
17
Then if it is a good meme, it will go viral. In my view, this natural
order of meme creation is what makes it authentic.
As such, when a brand does create a meme on a trend, it takes away from the natural order of
meme creation and thus becomes inauthentic. In my view, part of that belief from Gen Z and Millennial
consumers is more profound than when brands use memes. It comes from brands' use of marketing using
social issues as a backdrop that creates that animosity towards a corporation. The best way to understand
this is by looking at a skit from comedian Bo
Burnham’s award-winning variety show, “Inside.”
In “Inside,” Burnham plays a skit satirizing the work of a strategic brand consultant who works
with brands afraid of taking a stand on social issues. In the performance, Burnham lists out that today,

17
eG, S. (n.d.). Where do memes come from? Spirit of Play. Retrieved January 22, 2022, from
https://www.spielwarenmesse.de/en/mag/marketing/where-do-memes-
comefrom#:~:text=Most%20memes%20are%20designed%20by,is%20shared%20via%20social%20ne
tworks.
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consumers want more from brands; consumers today, he says, are looking to understand what the brands
stand for.
18
The skit implies that the current zeitgeist in the 2020s begs brands to be actors in the fight
for change to create a more just world. In my view, the skit explains that with the failure of the
government to make a difference, the public has turned to brands to speak out.
At the same time, however, Burnham notes that the actions to create change demand the brand
generate greater brand awareness by acting on the emotions and desire for activism that consumers are
looking for. As Burnham states, "Are you as a brand willing to use your brand awareness to create social
change which will then create brand awareness."
19
He then lists many brands he wants to provoke to
create change, such as Bagel Bites fighting against Lyme disease.
The joke of Bo Burnham's skit is the belief that brands who seek to appear genuinely interested
in making the social change are not at all looking to be authentic. Although people are looking for
brands to make a difference, brands appear performative when taking on fundamental societal issues.
The public has hailed certain brands like Ben and Jerry's and Patagonia for standing up for change, but
at the same time, those companies are the outliers. It has become far more normal for brands to act as
though they care about issues while at the same time not making reasonable actions that they are
promoting their change for.
A lack of action from brands has led to consumer cynicism against brands today. We can also see
this same cynicism of brands from years of fake performative actions during Pride Month. For example,

18
Bo Burnham Inside. (n.d.). Netflix.
19
Bo Burnham Inside. (n.d.). Netflix.

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brands have historically changed their logo to have a pride flag in June in support of LGBTQ Pride
Month and then immediately take it off when July 1st rolls around.
Although you may believe I am being theoretical in my saying here, data proves this same issue.
A recent survey done by the Havas group found some very keen and interesting insights about how
people view brands today.
20
In a study of over 395,000 participants, the Havas group found that
"consumers around the world see cynicism at an all-time high; less than half of brands are seen as
trustworthy (47%) and 75% could disappear and would be easily replaced". Another fascinating insight
they found was how 71% have little faith that brands will deliver on their promises. Yet there is a
promise within the negativity: despite this cynicism, consumers are desperately seeking brands that will
make a meaningful difference – with 73% saying brands must act now for the good of society and the
planet." The light at the end of the cynical tunnel proves that people believe that brands can make a
meaningful difference if they act on their promises and are trying to make a change outside of being
performative.
Regarding memes and meme usage by brands, the recent need for authenticity is based on the
same lines that brands need activism. People want the brands they use, to be honest and authentic in how
they act outside and communicate with people. Likewise, the audience wants to see corporations create
ways to communicate with them that they understand.
Post-Post Irony

While there is a need for authenticity and goodness that comes from brands when they try to
connect with Gen Z audiences, that also has to be balanced with this target generation's nuanced

20
Havas' meaningful brands report 2021 finds we are entering the age of cynicism. Havas Group. (n.d.).
Retrieved December 5, 2021, from https://www.havasgroup.com/press_release/havasmeaningful-
brands-report-2021-finds-we-are-entering-the-age-of-cynicism/.
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thinking and worldview. In my experience, Gen Z is very much well aware of the issues facing society
and the planet at this moment. Yet I believe, thatat the same time, they feel a level of powerlessness;
they know they can make a change, yet they know individually they cannot, so they look to brands or
other sources to try and create the change they want to see. I feel, that this is countered by their feeling
of cynicism and sense of intense irony to everything around them. An excellent way to describe the
feeling is by looking at the famous "everything is fine" meme that is well ingrained in the brains of Gen
Z audiences. The meme shows a dog saying "everything is fine" while his house burns around him, and
for many Gen Z and Millennials, this meme describes a depressing, overwhelming feeling that is
constantly present in their lives.
Figure 7

The sense of irony can also be detected in another Bo Burnham song “That Funny
Feeling”. In the song Burnham sings, "The surgeon generals' pop-up shop, Robert Igor's face,
Discount Etsy agitprop, Bugles' take on the race."
21
Here, Burnham is noting ironic cultural situations
that have become a norm in everyday life. The surgeon general's pop-up shop, a pointless way to make
money off of a model created to help people. Discount easy agitprop, a communistic prop sold as a
commodity, taking away its meaning. Bugles take on race; there is no reason for a potato chip company
to have a take on the issue of race in America and yet, it is needed to appear authentic. The song, “That

21
Bo Burnham Inside. (n.d.). Netflix.

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Funny Feeling”, did well on TikTok with over 12.4 thousand videos to the song alone and countless
covers and remixes. TikTok users acknowledge the irony in the world around them, and to this day, the
song has over 100 million plays a month on Spotify.
So what does this all mean for brands as they strive to appear authentic online? Gen Z and
Millennial audiences are very keen, aware, and intelligent. They know that brands are trying to appear
genuine, they want them to trust them, yet they also know that they cannot. For brands, this means they
have to be aware of their place and that no matter what they try in terms of using memes, they will be
both accepted in the eyes of Gen Z and Millennials and chastised because of this.
22

So far in this paper, we have discussed how memes have changed over time, how memes go
viral, how to understand them in language and dialogue, and the role key target audiences should play in
brand strategy. As brands have begun to incorporate memes into communication, we can witness how
brands have properly used memes in some examples. Below we will analyze the marketing efforts
through memes from the perspectives of SlimJim, Burger King, McDonald’s, and Duolingo case studies.

22
Generation Z's post-post-irony TikTok occultism. Spotify. (n.d.). Retrieved December 4, 2021, from
https://open.spotify.com/embed-podcast/episode/5xaxvGg0jvUL7GXDY0ndpu
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Chapter 4: Case Studies of Brand Meme Usage

Slim Jim
We can get a sense of how corporations use memes by checking Twitter and Instagram.
An interesting example of meme humor’s success can be seen on Slim Jim's Instagram and Twitter.
When the meat brand started their Instagram in 2015, they tried to use meme humor to gain traction with
little success. The memes that the brand used were outdated and did similar to memes of the early
2010’s.
Figure 8

In 2018, however, a fake/imposter account for Slim Jim called @SlimJimDoingThings was
posting daily memes using the Slim Jim brand as a basis for the comedy. @SlimJimDoingThings was
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25 | P a g e

gaining thousands of followers and having a huge amount of reactions.
23
Brand director Steven Fivelson
saw the success and noted that their "Instagram content was attempting to be funny and gain attention,
but it missed the mark. Consumers felt like they were being marketed to, and it was contrived." The
creator of the fake account, Andy Hines, successfully gained traction through original and creative
memes. While the official Slim Jim account had 5,000 followers, SlimJimDoingThings had over 20,000
followers. Eventually, Hines met with Fivelson and became the official meme creator for Slim Jim.
Hines used current trends online while also fusing them with the oddity that was Slim Jim and curating a
particular inside joke with the audience. The account would call followers the #gang and infuse numbers
such as 420 and 69, numbers indicating marijuana and sex, into the Slim Jim online brand. While
entirely out of the ordinary at the time, this was one of the first cases of brands fully embracing original
and unique meme humor infused within the brand identity as a way to connect with audiences to great
success.
With over three years of this humor, Slim Jim has logged over 1.3 million followers on
Instagram and over 171,000 followers on Twitter. Slim Jim’s success in utilizing memes as a marketing
tool showcases just how powerful meme humor in brands can be.

23
Bicks, E. (2020, May 9). Andy Hines Dead: Slim Jim Instagram meme creator dies at 35.
Heavy.com. Retrieved December 2, 2021, from https://heavy.com/entertainment/2020/05/andy-hines-
deathslim-jim/.
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Figures 9 and 10

McDonalds, Wendy’s, and Burger King
The Slim Jim case is just one form of how brands have created a unique voice through social
media when talking to youthful audiences through memes. There is a whole world of brand
conversations with users and each other that imitate the internet-speak we discussed earlier on Twitter.
In the below image, we see how brands like Wendy's, Burger King, and McDonald's use the meme
humor of Gen Z audiences to “clap back” at one another and at consumers online who may have had
problems with a food or product in the past.
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Figures 11 and 12

(Image on left is in reference to popular scrabble-like game “Wordle”, Image on right is in reference to
Dogecoin, a popular cryptocurrency)

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28 | P a g e

Figures 13 and 14

Unfortunately, Wendy’s and Burger King’s internet lingo and meme culture did not generate as
much success as Slim Jim. What we are witnessing online when Wendy's and Burger King fight each
other on Twitter is not effective marketing. According to Jamie Cohen, Ph.D. and meme researcher,
"What you are seeing is brands tiptoeing around discourse, because they know that if they go a little too
hard, they will become the butt of the joke or the talk of the day in terms of being cringe. They also
know if they are being too soft, that they will seem out of touch with the people they are trying to
target.”
24
What appears to be a significant problem for many social media managers for brands that try
to use memes online is how to create witty, original content that does not dry out or bore audiences who

24
Bronstein, M. (n.d.). Interview with Jamie Cohen, Ph.D. other.
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understand memes and meme culture. If there is one thing that we have significantly noted in this paper,
memes evolve in quick succession and that staying on top of those changes can make a brand stand out
within the eyes of the Gen Z youth audience.
Duolingo
A better brand to observe is Duolingo, a brand that used meme language to change its brand
identity. The app, started in 2011, was designed as an easy way for people to study a language online.
The original design of its mascot, Duo the Owl, was cartoonish and artistic, but that design changed over
time with the app’s creation. Knowing that learning a language is hard work and that smartphone users
have quick access to other apps, Duolingo created a way to ensure users stay on the app for more
extended periods of time by guilt-tripping their audience. If a user did not open Duolingo for a long
time, he/she would receive a message from Duo the bird, begging them to come back repeatedly,
making the user feel worse.
25
Beyond that, in 2018, the Duo team made the owl come alive by attaching
a wide array of expressive emotions to the owl in hopes that users would become more attached to the
mascot. He'll even cry animated tears in a user's inbox. Although a helpful design tool online, it caused
people to post memes about how the Duo was guilt-tripping them into studying, even exaggerating the
birds' messages. Further, it created a narrative that Duo was alive and sincerely hurt by the user's
actions. Over time, however, Duo became a far worse creation. Over the next year, users began tweeting
out and posting about how the Duolingo bird made them feel remorseful for not studying their foreign
language. The reaction became so intense that users claimed that the bird was threatening them to
research or else. Memes started showing up online that Duo had a gun, and if you did not check your

25
Lee, D. (2018, December 13). Duolingo redesigned its owl to guilt-trip you even harder. The Verge.
Retrieved December 2, 2021, from https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/13/18137843/duolingo-owl-
redesign-language-learning-app.
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Spanish, Duo would be on his way to harm users and their families.
26
Although terrifying, Duolingo
embraced its title as the dreadful app forcing users to study. The brand played along by tweeting out
similar memes, garnering Duo many likes and retweets.
Figure 15

As we move forward into 2021, Duo the bird has become more and more unhinged, and the brand
has acted on that narrative and created TikTok's showing Duo acting out in bizarre ways. (TikTok, 6 and
7) When we look at TikTok, we can see how Duo has become entrenched in its obsession with singer
Dua Lipa and has become known as almost downright psychotic, to the point that it has caused trouble
for the legal team dealing with the actions of Duo.

26
Lee, D. (2018, December 13). Duolingo redesigned its owl to guilt-trip you even harder. The Verge.
Retrieved December 2, 2021, from https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/13/18137843/duolingo-owl-
redesign-language-learning-app.
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Duo the bird’s actions, although brilliant in understanding its place as a meme online, was also
an incredible strategic marketing move in knowing how to appeal to audiences on TikTok. The app tells
brands to follow trends online and create original content that will help them stand out to the users who
scroll through endless content daily. For Duo, this meant a formula of staying on trends while acting
with a funny, unhinged, and downright menacing tone, which paved the way for success. The Duo app
had tried almost 40 times to go viral, and it was only on their 39
th
try that they achieved viral success in
a video. In it, Duo the bird looms over a table while an employee sits in a chair, with a popular TikTok
audio playing in the background. The caption said, “when you’re just tryna do your work without being
terrorized by an owl.” (TikTok, 8) The video garnered over 3.3 million views, and when Duo used the
format in their other videos, Duo saw a significant increase in the views on their TikToks.
27

Figure 16

What is so important to take away from these examples is is that the voice used in online
marketing has to be unique to the audience watching. For example, although SlimJim was original in its
idea to be comedic with its social media audience, the brand failed to continue its innovative voice and
repeatedly fell back on the same gimmick. Likewise, fast food chains that use meme lingo appear to use
a safe trick that they feel does enough for their brand yet does not make a significant mark on young

27
Deconstructing Duolingo's secrets to success on TikTok. Sprout Social. (2021, December 21).
Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://sproutsocial.com/insights/duolingo-tiktok-success/
Chapter 4: Case Studies of Brand Meme Usage
32 | P a g e

audiences. However, Duo the bird has been unique in quickly adapting its narrative to its current online
brand perception. On TikTok, we can see that Duo's actions have led the company to have over 1
million followers (TikTok, 9), and that kind of brand awareness is what makes Duo stand out among the
crowd.
To summarize the paper so far, we have looked at the history of memes, gained an understanding
of why they go viral and how they have changed language into linguistic capital. We have looked at how
brands use memes in the past, successfully and unsuccessfully, and looked into the psychology of Gen Z
and consumer audiences in terms of what they want to see from brands to be authentic. This information
gives us a sizeable holistic view of how a brand can use memes in communication. However, it is
crucial that we examine TikTok, how that app has transformed memes as a whole and how brands
communicate using memes on it . The TikTok app came in 2017, and through an incredible algorithm
and innovative use of music and video technology, it has become one of the most popular social media
apps. TikTok has changed how memes are created and added new elements like sound. For a brand, it is
imperative to look at TikTok to understand what is next for memes.
Chapter 5: Understanding TikTok
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Chapter 5: Understanding TikTok

The TikTok Algorithm

To gain a better insight on TikTok and memes are today, I talked to meme researcher Jamie
Cohen Ph.D., who has spent the past ten years analyzing and observing the transformation of memes
before our eyes. In the past, we used to consider Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, 4Chan, and maybe even
Snapchat as places where memes are created and shared. Over the past couple of years, however, these
sites have become less relevant to the meme discourse.
28
Nowadays, Facebook is looked at negatively
and in the eyes of Gen Z and Millennials as a place where their parents and right-wing conservatives
hang out. Likewise, Twitter is a place for thoughts to be shared but rarely where memes are created, and
Instagram is where memes die, according to Jamie Cohen.
29
So the question is, where is the current
meme conversation happening? On Tiktok, the app that has become the most extensive social media
network over the past couple of years and is growing in popularity every day. TikTok has shaped how
people act online and, even more, has pushed brands to adopt a new way of conversing with their
audience. The app has taken hold of modern audiences faster than any app has in the past; as of this
moment, TikTok has over 1 billion active users, and every day, that user base is growing. To understand
how TikTok has changed memes, we must first look at how the app works and keeps viewers sucked in.
TikTok, like Facebook and Instagram, uses a machine-learning algorithm to provide users with
content to keep their attention. Still, the difference is how the algorithm works and tailored to each user.
I reviewed t Jia Tolentino's piece "How TikTok Holds Our Attention"
30
to understand the app better.

28
Bronstein, M. (n.d.). Interview With Jamie Cohen. other.
29
Bronstein, M. (n.d.). Interview With Jamie Cohen. other.
30
Tolentino, J., Friend, T., & Petrusich, A. (2019, September 20). How TikTok holds our attention. The
New Yorker. Retrieved December 4, 2021, from
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/30/how-tiktok-holds-our-attention.
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According to Tolentino, TikTok's machine learning algorithm "analyzes each video and tracks user
behavior so that it can serve up a continually refined, neverending stream of TikToks optimized to hold
your attention.”
31
In essence, the platform is an “enormous meme factory, compressing the world into
pellets of virality and dispensing those pellets until you get full or fall asleep," says Tolentino.
Essentially, what TikTok does so well is observe a user's observance of each TikTok. Where most apps
will serve content in a "discover" page based on previous liked videos, Tiktok tracks the amount of time
the user spends on each video to learn the user's preferences and serve up content in real-time based on
that exact change. This formula has made the app boom in popularity and has essentially affected how
memes are spread at a much faster pace.
Further, the app is so popular because there is so much to see and do. TikTok is full of music and
sounds. Users can interact with any sound they hear or any video they see and be given filters, green
screen, clips of the video they see to rework and edit, text to speech, in-text video, and many other tools
for users to stay busy if they want to create. The app is straightforward to use, giving any user the access
to see a video, interact with it, and potentially make their own videos go viral. Because the app is so well
adjusted to customize any video from any creator to appear on any user's "for you" page, it allows for a
meme to go viral quicker than ever before.
TikTok is only so popular and so hypnotizing because of the internet culture that popularized
short-form video comedy. Gen Z and Millennials were raised on apps like YouTube and Vine, a 6-
second video app that lasted from 2010 to2014, to which TikTok has many similarities.
32
These video

31
Tolentino, J., Friend, T., & Petrusich, A. (2019, September 20). How TikTok holds our attention. The
New Yorker. Retrieved December 4, 2021, from
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/30/how-tiktok-holds-our-attention.
32
Herrman, J. (2020, February 22). Vine changed the internet forever. how much does the internet miss
it? The New York Times. Retrieved February 21, 2022, from
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/22/style/byte-vine-short-video-apps.html
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apps created endless streaming content that allowed users to pass the time. TikTok's algorithm goes
beyond that by collecting massive amounts of data from its users, which the company then uses to
constantly refine its platforms. This feedback loop, called the "virtuous cycle of A.I.,"
33
is what each
TikTok user experiences in miniature. The algorithm is so well designed to keep users' attention that
what feels like 30 minutes on the app will actually be two hours when a user finally puts their phone
down. The more time a user spends on the app, the more data it gives to TikTok to provide a better
content stream. The algorithm also gives us whatever pleases us, and we, in turn, provide the algorithm
whatever pleases it. As the circle tightens, we become less and less able to separate algorithmic interests
from our own.
34

TikTok Sounds
The incorporation of sound and music has changed meme culture and virality. TikTok's
popularity in the eyes of Gen Z, comes from its combination of Vine-like videos and the Musical.ly
App’s use of music.
35
Sounds and music are what make TikTok stand out among social media sites.
Users who create a particular sound or a tune can have that tune be used and appropriated by other users,
and musical artists who create music and promote it on the app can make a huge fan base off of their

33
Tolentino, J., Friend, T., & Petrusich, A. (2019, September 20). How TikTok holds our attention. The
New Yorker. Retrieved December 4, 2021, from
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/30/how-tiktok-holds-our-attention.
34
Tolentino, J., Friend, T., & Petrusich, A. (2019, September 20). How TikTok holds our attention. The
New Yorker. Retrieved December 4, 2021, from
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/30/how-tiktok-holds-our-attention.
35
Jennings, R. (2018, December 10). Tiktok, explained. Vox. Retrieved February 21, 2022, from
https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/12/10/18129126/tiktok-app-musically-meme-cringe

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sounds from the "for you" page. Take artist Lil Nas X, for example, the rapper who in 2019 created the
world's most-played song, "Old Town Road." Lil Nas started by promoting his music on TikTok. As the
sound gained popularity, he saw followers and other users create their dances to the track, which helped
garner him more plays on the Spotify and Apple Music apps. Looking at Lil Nas X now, he still uses the
same marketing format on TikTok by promoting his songs on the app for months before their release
and making memes of his music as it trends on the app. Although TikTok limits its users to only post
15second clips or chose a longer option, up to 3-minute clips. Artists take advantage of the former by
posting the catchiest snippets of their songs. By doing so, artists hope that enough users will copy their
sound to their own videos to make the sound go viral.
TikTok’s viral sounds also find success based around dance-ability and hooks that allow for
movement. Tolentino noted this when interviewing musicians: "A twenty-six-year-old Australian
producer named Adam Friedman, half of the duo Cookie Cutters, told me that he was now concentrating
on lyrics that you could act out with your hands. ‘I write hooks, and I try it in the mirror—how many
hand movements can I fit into fifteen seconds?’"
36
Musical artists can find success based on those
perceived changes to sounds. As well, part of that vitality comes from the number of times that a sound
is played over and over in a user's "for you" page. If that user’s algorithm is set to show a specific sound,
they will hear it repeatedly, helping to create its success. As such, a lot of modern music today has been
adapted for virality on TikTok. In addition, musical artists and producers are aware that a memorable
tune can bring them monetary success and thus artists train their hits to be TikTok suitable.

36
Tolentino, J., Friend, T., & Petrusich, A. (2019, September 20). How TikTok holds our attention. The
New Yorker. Retrieved December 4, 2021, from
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/30/how-tiktok-holds-our-attention.

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Beyond music alone, sounds on the app play in the same realm that meme texts have played in
the past. Certain sounds on TikTok -- from how a person is speaking to a text-tospeech format -- can be
used as a viral sound on the app. Some artists create music that goes viral on the app, so too do specific
creators specialize in making viral sounds. TikTok creators like Chase Keith, or @Jonstamosfanpage as
his TikTok, are particularly good at making bizarre sounds into memes. Keith is unique in how he uses
comedic timing along with replicating his voice to the sound of an anime character, young teenage girl,
or deeply voice adult to find success. (TikTok, 10) Keith (@Jonstamosfanpage) has gone viral multiple
times through that formula. In the following image, you can see how the single sound in the video by
Keith (@Jonstamosfanpage) has 82,300 videos all based on the 15-second snippet of his voice. User’s
will interact with the sound and create their own narrative based on the context of their own original
video idea and play on the meme.

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Figure 17

For companies, this presents a unique opportunity to partner with an artist or a creator who knows
the popular sounds trending on the app. To achieve authenticity, partnering with an artist or creator who
understands how to make viral sounds on the platform can be ideal to ensure a unique sound attributed
to a brand can find success on the app. Certain sounds, such as the Duolingo account using a text to
speech audio about its unhinged bird mascot, seemed to resonate with users, and that specific sound
went viral on the app. We can also see a more modern take on popular music with the Cotton brand
partnering with music focused TikTokers, who create remixes of the iconic Cotton slogan "the fabric of
Chapter 5: Understanding TikTok
39 | P a g e

our lives" (TikTok, 11). At the same time, we must also note how brands and musicians can fail and
seem cringe when partnering with the wrong artist.
Earlier in 2021, Starbucks partnered with music icon Chance the Rapper to try to create a viral
sound on their TikTok page. The rapper filmed himself making a beat that he thought would go viral and
allow users to “duet” (an application on the TikTok app that allows users to create a video side by side
to an existing one on the app) (TikTok, 12). However, Chance ended up making what many users
considered a “train wreck” of an audio due to the video’s offbeat sound and cacophony of different
noises. The video was so disliked that users created memes about how awful the sound was and
Starbucks was quick to delete the video from their TikTok page and never mentioned it again.
The Speed of TikTok

"My research is stunted," says Jamie Cohen." Before memes were able to be studied as they
happened but with the virality and change of how fast TikToks circulate, there is no easy way to stop
and understand a meme trend as it happened before the next one has already begun."
37
A similar
frustration came from my conversation with Cassandra Orion who works with brands to create TikToks:
“TikTok moves incredibly fast, and in the time it takes for all the gears to turn for a brand to give a
green light on a meme project, the trend has already died out.”
38
It is understandable to see Jamie and
Cassandra’s frustration, and so too with exceptional media managers who may want to make a viral
TikTok before the trend dies out. The speed of a TikTok trend is baffling to people like myself who use
the app and for brands who want to be a part of the conversation. A sound or a video idea can last all but

37
Bronstein, M. (n.d.). Interview with Jamie Cohen. other.
38
Bronstein, M. (n.d.). Interview with Cassandra Orion. other

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five days to a week at the very most and because so many people are watching and creating all the time,
trends expire faster than ever.
The best case to study in this sense is the popular "here comes the boy" (TikTok, 13) TikTok
meme. In early June, a TikTok user created a sound of her singing her own made-up lyrics in a beautiful
voice to a stray cat. The lyrics went, "here comes the boy, hello there, here he comes, there he is." The
sound and video went viral immediately, and users began to make their versions of it where they used
the sound of introducing their pets or their lovers. Users would also incorporate the sound with their
mixes, such as one user who made a more aggressive version about her cat that went, "here comes the
whore, hello whore" (TikTok, 14) in the same tone and tune as the original. Then came different users
who commented that the sound should only be used for pets and not people claiming that the sound did
not go "hello adult man, hello taxpayer."(TikTok, 15) Finally, the sound started to die when one user
made the “awful” version of it go viral (TikTok, 16). The final “awful” version featured a woman
screaming the audio to the original lyrics with an offbeat guitar playing in the background. The original
sound was pleasant to the ears while this new version was a cacophony of harsh, off-beat noises. All in
all, that entire trend and popular meme type existed for five days before it crippled into the meme
graveyard. In the past, memes went viral for weeks, but due to the speed that videos now are shared,
seen, and algorithmically placed on users’ "for you" pages, that speed has been heightened to an
extreme.
Beyond that, just how exactly TikTok has shifted what we view as a meme today must be noted.
Before, memes were simply pictures and text. Still, the current zeitgeist through TikTok has transformed
the meme to be about the performance, sound, acting, and music. For a brand, much more time needs to
be spent understanding how to perform the meme on TikTok to create genuine authenticity. Speed on
Chapter 5: Understanding TikTok
41 | P a g e

TikTok is of the essence, and understanding the performance of the action is just as great in making the
viral success necessary to justify a good ROI in TikTok and meme-ability.
Brands on TikTok

My conversation with Cassandra Orion brought about a strong point in how brands look at
pandering to youth with memes. The fear that a lot of brands have, in Orion’s view, is that youth and
youth culture is like a monolith that is too big for a brand to be a part of.
39
However, she also believes
TikTok has dramatically changed that ideology. In order for a brand to operate on TikTok they have to
understand and be a part of youth culture and TikTok even asks brands to do it in order to find success.
40

TikTok asks brands to do what they call a Flicker, Flash, and Flair content strategy. Breaking it down
like this:
Flicker content – reactive (i.e., participation in trends)
Flash content – proactive (i.e., planned/episodic content)
Flare content – interactive (large scale campaign initiatives)
The Flicker strategy, as the image above explains, asks brands to create frequent content on
meme trends, which means sounds, music, memes, and anything else that is trending on the app. The
Flash strategy asks brands to post less frequently but with original content of their own design with
specific interests to the brand. A brand can post original content interesting to users such as Red Bull
posting skiing or snowboarding videos and Home Depot posting how-to videos on home improvement.

39
Bronstein, M. (n.d.). Interview with Cassandra Orion. other.
40
Flicker, flash, & flare tiktok content strategy for brands: The ultimate guide -. Brendan Gahan. (2021,
October 18). Retrieved January 24, 2022, from https://brendangahan.com/flickerflash-flare-tiktok-
content-strategy-for-brands-the-ultimate-guide/
Chapter 5: Understanding TikTok
42 | P a g e

Lastly, the flare content strategy is a large-scale campaign on TikTok to create brand awareness. This
can be a collaboration with a creator or a dance to a certain TikTok sound.
These active changes on TikTok have dramatically altered the way that brands create content and
can interact with memes online. Through using the Flicker, Flash, and Flare strategy, brands can access
the youth culture and participate in memes and trends online in a more authentic way.

Chapter 6: Concluding Thoughts
43 | P a g e

Chapter 6: Concluding Thoughts

Self-Awareness

At the beginning of this paper, I offered an argument for how brands can seem
authentic online. I have been fortunate to find out that my argument is true in how brands
would act online. The first thing that brands need to be authentic online is to become more
self-aware. From our discussions with Cassandra Orion, Jamie Cohen, and from the speakers
of the Meme in the Moment festival, we saw how important it is for brands to be aware of
their place in the online realm as well as their view in the eyes of Gen Z and Millennial
audiences. That comes from continuous research, how people talk about the brand online, and
how people see, complain, or comment on their brand perspectives. It also means to look at
the brand's history and past and recognize how to create an authentic identity that realizes the
past actions of the brand that might be deemed controversial.
Further, self-awareness also comes with the awareness of the needs of Gen Z and
Millennial audiences, how they look at the world around them, and what they specifically
need from brands to be authentic. Many Gen Z and Millennial audiences distrust brands and
try to communicate with them online. Thus, any actions that try to use Gen Z internet lingo
and meme culture will be seen as a problem and be observed with a magnifying glass to be
deemed trustworthy. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that brands know how they should
act to address the issues that define Gen Z and Millennial audiences. Also, brands have to
act on their promises to take action on any purpose-driven campaign to appear more
authentic. Otherwise, they risk becoming like the brands Bo Burnham had made fun of in
“Inside.”
Chapter 6: Concluding Thoughts
44 | P a g e

Speed

As we had discussed with memes and TikTok, speed is of the essence in terms of
meme and content creation for brands. Memes move online at a wicked-fast pace, and
through TikTok, that pace has increased 10-fold; any idea for content has to be made within
days to a week at most to create something that will appear authentic in the time given.
Appearing cringe can come quickly, and one unfortunate way is by being too late to any
trend as it happens. As Cassandra Orion mentioned, any time she brings up a meme idea for
a brand, it can take weeks until that idea is fleshed out because of too much corporate red
tape to get any point across that would be suitable for the brand. As such, brands need to
have a dedicated team of researchers and meme experts who are suitably armed with current
information so they can be quick to suggest trends that said brands jump on to be authentic
in their meme and internet lingo ideas. Speed also comes down to keeping an eye on how
quickly ideas and pop culture permeate online spaces. That means comprehending every
trend as it happens and understanding why it happens.
Wittiness

Wittiness is the final component of honest and accurate online advertising. Wittiness
means thinking outside of the box and being smart with the information that a brand has in
its online perception. Duolingo, for example, used its online image to recreate itself into a
humorous, satirical bird because their online audience could not get enough of it. Wittiness
is clever and original ideas that come out of working on trends while being self-aware.
Wittiness comes in knowing which top creators to work with and how their creativity can
align with the brand's image. To be witty, a brand needs to think about how exactly they can
Chapter 6: Concluding Thoughts
45 | P a g e

act on the meme of the moment and put their own spin on it. To do this a brand must be
witty, shrewd, know the meme, and see the context. When these steps are complete, a brand
can take back the narrative of their online image.
Conclusion

Cassandra Orion said something that I believe is incredibly important to acknowledge how a
brand can seem authentic online. Most brands see the youth as an audience that they cannot be a part of
or reach, but that isn't the case at all. Youth culture is just pop culture with a twist. All a brand needs to
do to identify with Gen Z and Millennial culture is to understand pop culture.
41
That means being aware
of their perspective, their memes, their apps, and their influencers and creators. Memes are cultural
stamps of what is happening today, and they are ever evolving yet easy to understand. Similarly, youth
culture has changed over the years but remains constant in the youth’s desire to succeed, see their
futures and to right the injustices of today. Brands can change that ideology by understanding how to act
in the online world, by understanding the memes of the moment and working on them at the right time.
Wittiness, speed, and self-awareness are necessary to create less cringe communication online, but it is
not difficult for a brand to achieve that goal by knowing what it all means. Brands have the same ability
to connect with consumers online. Authentic actions will bring in revenue and being aware of how
people talk online will help brands create a broader their customer base. Memes can change brand image
and paves a way for brands to control their online narrative.

41
Bronstein, M. (n.d.). Interview with Cassandra Orion. other
References
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Abstract (if available)

Abstract Memes have been a powerful tool for brand marketing in the past; however, I believe modern-day Gen Z and Millennial consumers are more intelligent, more cynical, and expect more from brands who try to use memes and internet-speak when marketing to them. This paper gives an educated argument for US-Centric brands and businesses that want to market to young audiences. Through a holistic view of memes historically, analysis of TikTok’s effect, and a hypothesis for brands, this paper acts to create options for how brands can appear authentic to Gen Z and Millennial individuals and create the “Authentic Meme” in their adverting.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Bronstein, Michael (author)

Core Title The authentic meme

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Strategic Public Relations

Degree Conferral Date 2022-05

Publication Date 04/28/2022

Defense Date 04/28/2022

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag brands,Burger King,culture,Duolingo,History,linguistics,Marketing,McDonalds,memes,OAI-PMH Harvest,TikTok,Wendy's,Youth,youth culture

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Kozinets, Robert (committee chair), Floto, Jennifer (committee member), Tenderich, Bughardt (committee member)

Creator Email michaelbronstein72@gmail.com,mnbronst@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC111136609

Unique identifier UC111136609

Document Type Thesis

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Bronstein, Michael

Type texts

Source 20220428-usctheses-batch-934 (batch), University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

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