About
Distracted Boyfriend, also known as Man Looking at Other Woman, is a captioned stock photo series in which a man looks at the backside of a woman walking by while another woman, presumably his romantic partner, looks on disapprovingly.
Origin
The source image is a stock photograph taken by photograper Antonion Guillem, which was posted on the stock photo database iStock[1] under the description “Disloyal man with his girlfriend looking at another girl” (shown below, left). According to a post published on the Meme Documentation[14] Tumblr blog, the earliest known captioned version of the photo was submitted to a Turkish Facebook group at an unknown date. On January 30th, 2017, the Prog Düşmanlarına Verilen Müthiş Cevaplar Facebook[13] page posted the image with captions identiying the man as Phil Collins peering pop music while prog music looks on (shown below, right).
Spread
On February 23rd, 2017, Instagram user @_dekhbai_[2] posted the image with the caption “Tag That Friend / Who Falls in Love Every Month” (shown below, left). Within seven months, the post gained over 28,500 likes. On August 19th, Twitter user @n1m161 posted the stock depicting the man staring longingly at “socialism” while “capitalism” looks on (shown below, right).
On August 21st, Redditor danikger submitted a captioned version of the photo in which the man looks back at the 2017 solar eclipse while being stared at by “scientific evidence supporting the dangers of staring at the sun” (shown below). Within 24 hours, the post gained over 31,200 points (93% upvoted) and 130 comments on /r/me_irl.[3] In the coming days, several posts about the meme format were submitted to /r/MemeEconomy.[5][6][7][8]
Photo Series Compilations
As the popularity of the stock photo started to spread, people discovered similar stock photos in the series with the same actors in various scenarios. On August 22nd, Tumblr user klubbhead posted a compilation of similar photos from the series, featuring the man looking at the same woman at various instances with at the end showing his romantic partner in disstress and questioning why she didn’t dump him.[9]
Klubbhead added a reply to his post the next day, showing a photo of the man annoyed at his partner’s shopping habits; alongside 2 series of stock photos from the set with the first showing the initial man and woman being a happy couple once (shown below, left) and the latter showing them all 3 being together with the implication that they all had intercourse together eventually (shown below, right).[10] As of August 25th, the post gathered over 47,500 notes.
On August 24th, Twitter user @akfamilyhomeak[11] posted a tweet featuring a similar scenario, but instead showing the two women from the series getting closer to each other with the man being blurry in the background. Later that day, Twitter user @oranforest[12] added a photo to the same series as @akfamilyhomeak, featuring the two women being together with the implication that they got together (shown below).
Interviews
In late August, photographer Antonio Guillem gave several interviews about the photograph to various news sites, including Wired[17] and The Guardian,[16] in which he revealed he didn’t known what a meme was until recently. On August 29th, NY Mag[15] published an interview conducted by Guillem with the models from the photo.
Distracted Girlfriend
In late October 2017, another photograph by Antonion Guillem was discovered on Shuttstock[18] in which the roles were reversed, depicting a man’s girlfriend looking lustfully at a man passing by (shown below).
On October 29th, 2017, Redditor toastr submitted an image featuring the new stock photo placed underneath the original Distracted Boyfriend picture, along with the caption “The tables have turned.” Within 24 hours, the post gained over 25,600 points (92% upvoted) and 240 comments. That day, Redditor J0Aco777 reposted the image macro to /r/dankmemes,[19] where it garnered upwards of 8,400 points (91% upvoted) and 110 comments over the next day.
Meanwhile, a photoshopped variation of the image was submitted by Redditor SteW- to /r/me_irl, featuring the original Distracted Boyfriend as the jealous boyfriend (shown below).[10] On October 30th, The Daily Dot[21] published an article about the new stock photo titled “Distracted girlfriend brings gender equality to the meme world.”
Various Examples
Search Interest
Not available.
External References
[1]Shutterstock – Disloyal man with his girlfriend looking at another girl
[5]Reddit – /r/memeeconomy
[6]Reddit – /r/memeeconomy
[7]Reddit – /r/memeeconomy
[8]Reddit – /r/memeeconomy
[11]Twitter – @akfamilyhomeak
[12]Twitter – @oranforest
[13]Facebook – Prog Düşmanlarına Verilen Müthiş Cevaplar
[14]Tumblr – On the origins of the man checking out another woman meme
[15]NY Mag – Meme Stars Laura and Mario Break Their Silence
[16]The Guardian – I didn’t know what a meme was, says Distracted Boyfriend photographer
[17]Wired – DISTRACTEDBOYFRIEND
[18]Shutterstock – Distracted Woman Looking Another Man-
[19]Reddit – Oh how they do
[21]The Daily Dot – Distracted girlfriend brings gender equality to the meme world