And other memes can simply strike a lot of people as immature, like the once-popular phrase “u mad bro?” Imagine a pharmaceutical company posting that phrase while touting the strength of an anti-itching cream - it’s simply out of place.Īdvance your career with Lindenwood University Advance your career in Business Some of them may have a hidden, offensive meaning that you don’t know about initially. Memes can be so obscure that your audience may have trouble understanding them. It’s not fully clear right now how the law and memes interact.Īnother murky area for memes is their meaning and lifespan. Typical consumers might not have to worry about lawsuits, but the stakes are raised when companies use it to further their social media following or sell products. Given how so many memes revolve around movies, films, video games, and other sources of protected content, there are legal risks to using memes that aren’t created in-house. In 2013, it received a $710,000 judgment against a beverage company for copyright and trademark infringement. Grumpy Cat: The internet celebrity cat has a line of merchandise, books, and digital products.Success Kid: The picture of the baby at the beach with a fistful of sand has been used in multiple commercial settings, and the boy’s mother has threatened legal action for using it without permission.In a letter to, the news agency confirmed that they’re monitoring use of Jordan’s image in commercial settings. Crying Jordan: The picture of Michael Jordan’s emotional reaction when inducted into basketball’s hall of fame is owned by the Associated Press.However, it’s not as straightforward as it sounds.Īn initial problem comes into focus when you consider how a majority of popular image memes are protected legally. Start with a popular image and make it relevant to your industry. Integrating memes into an organization’s social media marketing strategy seems simple enough. Memes offer the ultimate risk-reward proposition in this optional, at least for now, form of marketing. On the other hand, they present an opportunity to resonate with audiences and go viral.

It takes a high degree of savviness to appropriately use culturally loaded references that incorporate sarcasm, can confuse people, and often have a surprisingly short lifespan. One issue is how memes - images, videos, or text referencing popular culture - have evolved digitally. After all, Wonderful Pistachios debuted its Keyboard Cat commercial at the 2010 World Series, offering a well-received take on one of the earliest online sensations (the original video has approximately 60 million views on YouTube). Longevity isn’t a major factor for advertisers. Meme marketing could be close to receiving mainstream status, but advertisers might need more convincing. Is Meme Marketing the Future of Visual Content?

The office questions meme