What Is The 'Strawberry Elephant' Meme On TikTok? The Viral 'Strawberry Elephant Vs. Smurf Cat' Trend Explained

Recently on TikTok, a bizarre Photoshop of a realistic looking Smurf cat hybrid went viral on the platform. Now, following in its footsteps is an old school photoshop known as the Arabic Strawberry Elephant, which has is being pitted against the Smurf cat to see which is the better meme. But where does the strawberry elephant image come from? Here's what you need to know.

What Is The 'Arabic Strawberry Elephant' Meme?

The strawberry elephant image has a long online history as a meme. It was first posted to the website Worth1000.com in July 2007 as an entry into a Photoshop contest where users were asked to Photoshop "how to hide an elephant." The image, created by user mzic2403, ended up winning the contest.

The image remained largely dormant online until an unknown person added Arabic text to the bottom of it. The text reads what translates to "strawberry morning" and became the subject of memes in 2020, with one of the earliest examples being a "he will never have a girlfriend" meme that reads, "he will never have a strawberry morning."

How Is The 'Arabic Strawberry Elephant' Used In Memes?

Throughout the 2020s, the strawberry elephant has mostly been used as an exploitable in absurdist, purposefully strange memes. The elephant is often Photoshopped into various meme formats, including examples like the "you better not be" format and a meme that simply deep fries the image.

In September 2023, the elephant became the subject of stylized edits on TikTok, often set to the song "On & On" by Cartoon. The meme quickly evolved and merged with the viral Smurf cat memes, which are all about spamming a photoshop of a cat-Smurf hybrid in videos. Many of the videos pit the two creatures against each other in hypothetical battles to see who is the ultimate meme, while others simply edit the elephant in a cool, flashy and funny way.

For the full history of the Arabic strawberry elephant, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.