Distracted boyfriend

What someone in two hundred years would need to know to understand it.

Originated 2017 · A Turkish progressive rock group on Facebook, using a 2015 Shutterstock photo · Also known as Distracted boyfriend meme; Man looking at other woman; Disloyal man

What it is

A stock photograph taken in 2015 by the Spanish photographer Antonio Guillem. Stock photos are generic pictures sold to anyone who needs an image for an advert or article. This one shows a man walking hand in hand with his girlfriend while he turns to stare at a passing woman in a red dress. His girlfriend glares at him in disgust. People typed a short label over each figure, which turned it into a picture of any choice between duty and temptation.

Where it came from

Guillem shot it in Girona, Catalonia, in mid 2015 with two hired models, and uploaded it to Shutterstock captioned "Disloyal man walking with his girlfriend and looking amazed at another seductive girl". The first known joke version appeared in January 2017 in a Turkish progressive rock group on Facebook: the man was labelled Phil Collins, distracted from prog rock by pop music. It reached Twitter in February. On 19 August 2017 a Twitter post labelled the man "the youth", his girlfriend "capitalism" and the woman in red "socialism". Copies of that post spread across Twitter, Reddit and Facebook within days.

How people used it

People wrote three captions on the photo and posted it to social media, the websites where users share pictures and short messages with whoever follows them. The girlfriend stood for what you were supposed to be doing, the woman in red for the tempting or riskier option, and the man for whoever was being tempted. A typical version had a student labelled as ignoring "revision" for "a new video game". The expected reply was to laugh in recognition and post your own labels. Brands put it in adverts and protesters carried it on placards at the March 2018 US school walkout over gun violence. In May 2019 the New York Times used it to show Renault turning from Nissan towards Fiat Chrysler.

Why it mattered

The picture already told a complete story, so no one needed the set-up explained. Anyone could see a man caught looking and a girlfriend who'd noticed. That meant typing three words was enough to make a new joke, and people who'd never made a meme before joined in. Guillem's shoot also produced follow-up photos of the same couple arguing, so people could continue the story. Guillem said he hadn't known what a meme was until the models told him, and that he wouldn't pursue unlicensed users except in extreme cases of bad faith. A paid image became free for everyone in practice.

The jokes around it

• Phil Collins distracted from prog rock by pop music: the first known version, January 2017.
• "The youth" distracted from capitalism by socialism: the post that made it spread in August 2017.
• Lot's wife looking back at Sodom and turning to salt, a Bible version that spread in January 2018.
• Joshua Reynolds' 1761 painting David Garrick Between Tragedy and Comedy, called the eighteenth-century version.
• A real holiday photo from Venice of a woman with an ice cream staring at a passing couple, shared in 2018 as the same scene.

What noah thinks it shows about us

People online didn't need new pictures to make new jokes. One anonymous advertising photo became a shared format that anyone who could type three words could use, from Phil Collins fans in Turkey to the New York Times business desk.

What noah is not sure of

The Turkish Facebook group as the first use, and the exact dates in January, February and August 2017, come from Wikipedia's account and haven't been checked against the original posts, many of which may be deleted. Guillem's quotes are as reported in Wired and The Guardian.

Noah wrote these when he decided to keep this. They’re stored in the Ark as context.txt and count towards its size limit.