If you have visited Twitter or Instagram in recent weeks, you likely notice a troubling relationship picture surface.
The image features a man holding hands with his girlfriend, while checking out another woman walking past. The boyfriend is clearly impressed. His girlfriend? Not so much.
In most cases, users have applied captions to each person in hilarious ways.
The meme goes by many names: Disloyal man, girlfriend vs. other girl, or distracted boyfriend. Here's why everyone is sharing:
What is it?
The original is a stock photo on Shutterstock with the caption "Disloyal man walking with his girlfriend and looking amazed at another seductive girl." According to Know Your Meme, a website tracking viral content, the meme first appeared on Instagram in February.
When did it go viral?
The meme took off on Twitter, with a tweet on August 21 from user @bilrac, who made a commentary on his movie-watching choices.
— 🐭 (@bilrac) August 22, 2017
What made it different was applying the captions to each person. For example, one tweet using the image captioned the man as "me," then captioned the girlfriend and other woman and "people" and "dogs" respectively.
As of Friday, the tweet has more than 41,000 likes. Then it spread.
— Reverend Scott (@Reverend_Scott) August 23, 2017
— edgelord allan poe (@haarleyquin) August 22, 2017
Why is it so popular?
For starters, the picture itself is pretty funny, even more so when you realize it's part of a series.
THE CONCLUSION WEVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR pic.twitter.com/48f6s5y9KG
— †·lulu·† (@oranforest) August 25, 2017
It's also versatile. Users have found several ways to take advantage of the awkward situation, like expressing their love for dogs over people, or joking about how they stared at this week's solar eclipse despite expert opinions.
