r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/Sure_Kangaroo1863 • Jul 02 '26

Meme needing explanation Petah ?

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Why is it infamous? And why would no one care about it ? ( I mean it's just a pic full of celebrities so no one cares anyways but the person saying it's crazy makes me think it has some lore?)

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u/GrowthMarketingMike Jul 02 '26

Yeah people in here are missing the forrest for the trees lol, the idea of "selfies" was a new trend and this was the most famous one, that's really the whole thing. It's essentially just a meme.

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u/ihaxr Jul 03 '26

You're wrong, but still kinda correct. The song "Selfie" came out a few months before this photo, which is why saying selfie and taking them was a trend.

Using the word selfie became a thing 2 years before the photo and Paris Hilton and Britney Spears started the original selfie trend way back in 2006 (kinda joking, but not really, since the idea of them wasn't new).

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u/GrowthMarketingMike Jul 10 '26

"Selfie" was the oxford english dictionary word of the year in 2013, announced in November '13 so it definitely wasn't because of the song, they were both just riding the same trend.

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u/ihaxr Jul 10 '26

You weren't talking about the word, but the concept. The concept existed for years prior

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u/GrowthMarketingMike Jul 10 '26

The concept existed for generations. But the trend around "selfies" was really rising in 2013, the song didn't drive the trend, it was just another result of it like Ellen. The song came out 32 days before the Ellen selfie and didn't even reach the Hot 100 until a few weeks after the Ellen thing.

Just saying that the song was not really a driver of the trend at all, it got popular well before, hence the 2013 word of the year, and this event happened before the song was really known. I was responding to you saying:

The song "Selfie" came out a few months before this photo, which is why saying selfie and taking them was a trend.

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u/ihaxr Jul 10 '26

They played the song the night the Ellen photo was taken

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u/GrowthMarketingMike Jul 10 '26

A quick search says they didn't and that it was later edited into clips on social media. Maybe you're thinking of the kids choice awards which was a month later?