Imagine waking up, grabbing your phone to check the time, and seeing your face—distorted, captioned, and shared by forty thousand strangers—before you've even had coffee. It's weird. For most of the people who are memes, this wasn't a choice. One second you're at a middle school graduation or staring at a camera during a news segment, and the next, you are the universal shorthand for "awkwardness" or "disbelief."
The internet has this terrifying habit of stripping the humanity away from a photograph. We see a pixelated image and treat it like a public utility, something that belongs to everyone. But there’s a real person behind "Side-Eye Chloe" or "Bad Luck Brian."
Honestly, the transition from being a private citizen to becoming a global punchline happens faster than a server refresh. Kyle Craven, the guy behind the plaid-vested Bad Luck Brian, once explained that his friend uploaded that infamous yearbook photo to Reddit while Kyle was sleeping. By the time he woke up, he was already becoming one of the most recognizable people who are memes in history. He didn't ask for it. He just had a goofy smile and a sweater vest.
The Brutal Reality of Losing Your Face to the Public Domain
When we talk about the legalities of this stuff, things get messy. Really messy. Most people assume that if your face goes viral, you’re suddenly rich. That is a massive lie.
The way copyright law works in the United States—and most of the West—is that the person who took the photo usually owns the rights, not the person in the photo. This creates a bizarre power dynamic. If you’re one of those people who are memes, you might find your face on a billboard in Tokyo or a T-shirt in London, and you might not see a single dime from it.
Take the case of Laney Griner and her son, Sam, better known as "Success Kid." Laney was actually quite proactive about protecting Sam’s likeness. Because she took the photo, she held the copyright. This allowed her to license the image for commercials and even use the fame to help crowdfund a kidney transplant for Sam’s father.
But Sam is the exception.
Most people are caught in a legal grey area where "fair use" and "transformative works" protect the people making the memes more than the person featured in them. You’re basically a character in a story you didn't write. It’s a total loss of agency. You become a "living meme," which sounds cool until you realize you can't walk into a grocery store without someone pointing a phone at you.
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The Psychological Toll: When Your Worst Moment Becomes Permanent
Have you ever had a bad hair day or said something stupid that you wish everyone would just forget? Now imagine that moment is archived by the Library of Congress.
For many people who are memes, the psychological impact is heavy. Think about Ghyslain Raza, the "Star Wars Kid." Back in 2003, before YouTube was even a thing, a video of him practicing his lightsaber moves with a golf ball retriever was leaked online. He was just a kid having fun in private. The result? Massive cyberbullying. He ended up leaving school and seeking psychiatric help.
People forget that these are humans.
We treat them like digital stickers. It’s easy to laugh at a "Karen" video or a "Scumbag Steve" photo because the context is stripped away. Blake Boston, the real "Scumbag Steve," has talked at length about how the internet's perception of him as a deadbeat didn't match his reality as a father and a regular guy. He had to lean into the persona just to survive the onslaught of attention. If you can't beat them, you might as well join them, right? Sorta. But it’s a weird way to live.
Can You Actually Make Money Being a Meme?
The short answer: Maybe, but usually no.
The long answer involves the recent explosion of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens). For a brief window around 2021 and 2022, several people who are memes finally got their payday. Zoe Roth, the girl in "Disaster Girl" (the one smiling in front of the burning house), sold her original photo as an NFT for roughly $500,000.
- Zoe Roth used the money to pay off student loans and donate to charity.
- Laina Morris, the "Overly Attached Girlfriend," also found some success in the digital art space before stepping away from the spotlight for her mental health.
- The "Doge" dog (Kabosu) became the face of a literal currency, though her owners mostly used the platform to raise money for animal shelters.
But let's be real. The NFT market crashed. Hard. For most people who go viral today, the window of opportunity is about 48 hours. If you don't have a talent agency and a merch store ready to go within two days of your face hitting the front page of TikTok or X, you’re just another forgotten thumbnail.
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The Evolution of the Viral Subject
We've moved past the era of the "unintentional" celebrity. Now, people try to become memes. They manufacture "main character" moments in the hopes of getting that brief hit of dopamine and fame. But the internet can smell desperation. The most enduring people who are memes are still the ones who were caught in a moment of genuine, unvarnished humanity.
Think about "Hide the Pain Harold." András Arató was a retired electrical engineer from Hungary who took some stock photos. He didn't try to be funny. His eyes just looked incredibly sad while he was smiling. That's it. That’s the whole magic. You can’t fake that kind of relatability.
András eventually embraced it. He’s now a professional brand ambassador. He traveled the world because people saw his face and thought, "Yeah, that’s exactly how I feel during a Monday morning Zoom call." He turned a weird situation into a second career, but he’s one of the lucky ones who had the temperament to handle it.
The Dark Side: Revenge Memes and Misinformation
Not all memes are harmless jokes about bad luck or awkward smiles. Sometimes, people who are memes are victims of targeted harassment.
We’ve seen it happen with political protests or public "freakouts." Someone gets filmed during the worst ten seconds of their life, and the internet decides that those ten seconds define their entire existence. There is no nuance on social media. You are either a hero or a villain.
If you’re labeled a "villain" by the hive mind, the consequences are real.
- Doxing: People finding your home address and workplace.
- Harassment: Your employer getting flooded with calls to fire you.
- Isolation: Friends and family distancing themselves to avoid the splash damage.
This is why the "Right to be Forgotten" laws in Europe are so debated. Should a mistake you made at 19 follow you for the rest of your life just because it was catchy enough to be shared? Most would say no, but the internet never deletes anything.
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What to Do If You Become a Meme
If you suddenly find yourself among the ranks of people who are memes, the instinct is to panic. Don't. Or, at least, don't panic publicly.
First, secure your digital footprint. Set your private accounts to private immediately. People will go digging through your high school photos to find more "content."
Second, don't try to "fight" the meme. The internet has a Streisand Effect built into its DNA. If you demand people stop sharing your photo, they will share it ten times more. The best strategy is usually to either ignore it entirely or lean into it with a sense of humor.
Third, if a company uses your face for an advertisement without your permission, call a lawyer. While "fair use" covers some guy making a joke on Reddit, it does NOT cover a multinational corporation using your likeness to sell soda. You have "Right of Publicity" protections in many jurisdictions that can help you regain control—or at least get a check.
Moving Forward in a Meme-Centric Culture
The cycle of fame is getting shorter and more intense. We are living in a world where anyone can become a global icon overnight, for better or worse.
Being one of the people who are memes is a modern-day lottery where the prize is sometimes a million dollars and sometimes a decade of therapy. It's a reminder that behind every "Haha, look at this guy" post, there is a person with a job, a family, and a life that existed before the shutter clicked.
If you want to handle your own digital presence more effectively or protect yourself from unwanted viral "fame," start by auditing your public-facing images. Use tools like Google Reverse Image Search or PimEyes to see where your face is already living online. Understanding your "digital shadow" is the first step in making sure you don't become a meme against your will.
Actionable Steps for Navigating Viral Visibility
- Audit Your Privacy: Regularly check the privacy settings on your older social media accounts (Facebook, Flickr, MySpace). Many memes are born from abandoned accounts.
- Understand Your Rights: Research "Right of Publicity" laws in your specific state or country. These laws vary wildly but are your primary defense against commercial exploitation of your face.
- Document Everything: If you find yourself going viral in a negative way, take screenshots of original posts. This documentation is vital for "Cease and Desist" orders or potential defamation suits.
- Seek Mental Health Support: If the attention becomes overwhelming, reach out to professionals who specialize in cyberbullying or digital trauma. The "Meme to Depression" pipeline is a documented phenomenon.
- Wait Out the Storm: Most memes die within a week. Unless you're actively fueling the fire, the internet will almost certainly move on to a new cat video or a different public mishap by next Tuesday.