Crasher Squirrel

About

Crasher Squirrel, (a.k.a Scene-stealing Squirrel or Cheeky Squirrel) refers to the single character image macro of a squirrel randomly placed into photos.

Origin

The original photograph was taken by a Canadian couple who were vacationing at Lake Mineewanka; they set up their tripod on some rocks and posed for a picture together, when a squirrel was drawn by the shutter click and took the center stage. They submitted the photo to a National Geographic contest. The magazine posted it to an online gallery on Aug. 7. Photoshop enthusiasts have added the furry scene-stealer to family portraits, famous paintings, and even to the top of the Queen’s hat with a pile of nuts.

Media Buzz & Possible Case of Benjamin Button Effect

In less than a week after the couple’s photo was featured on National Geographic, other news publications and blogs quickly picked up on the internet buzz and ran stories about the accidentally famous squirrel. While its memetic status remains disputable as of now, mainstream media seems to be playing an active role in instigating its popularity. Labeled by KYM scientists as ‘Benjamin Button Effect," such trend of “quick to rise, quick to fade” in today’s memescape has been previously observed with Christian Bale’s rant caught on tape.

List of Media Coverage

• Canadian Broadcasting Company [8/13/09]
• Mashable [8/14/09]
• bOINGbOING [8/14/09]
• Buzzfeed [8/14/09]
• NBC Today Show [8/17/09]
• Daily Telegraph [8/17/09]
• Gizmodo [8/18/09]
• Click here for complete listing of mainstream/blog coverage

More Research Notes

As of Aug. 17th, 2009, there are no YTMND pages or Wiki entries in existence, but photoshopped derivatives have been surfacing steadily on discussion forums. Like many other single characters, variations of the scene-stealing squirrel are typically placed into irrelevant settings for comical effect.

Derivatives