Forums / Discussion / Meme Research

So, there's a series of gifs going around which shows someone carrying something and they screw up and drop their items. At the end of the gif, a caption with the words, "Thanks Obama" appears on the gif. I have seen some examples on Tumblr and Memebase. I don't know the origin.

I've never seen that, but it seems hilarious!

Two examples, and I've also seen these show up a lot lately.

Excellent, just need a few more examples, and we should be good to go for an entry.

There's a subreddit under that exact name that features mostly informerical gifs with the rule that every post has to have 'Thanks Obama' in the title. Only some have the line in the actual image.

I would rather call this a spin-off from the commercial ads in which they try to sell you daily products which should make your life "so much easier". The people who use the normal products always fail with them, already breaking an arm when pouring a glass of water.

Gifs of these things are commonly shared on various places. These "Thanks Obama" variations are rare though.

Some of the GIFs seem to have come from the infomercial fails in the /r/wheredidthesodago subreddit.

Update of "Thanks Obama" GIFs in progress.

So, do I get the green light for an entry?

I'd give a tentative green light. Prepare for a basket full of "+1 wait" comments though.

@Chowzburgerz, please go for it! Would be happy to assist in research if needed.

As for the focus of this meme entry, even though the GIFs are sourced from the infomercial clips, I think it'd be more interesting to research the origin & history of the phrase "Thanks Obama," as in "Obama as the scapegoat for everything" meme.

Of course, if anyone wants to start an entry for "infomercial models having difficulty with simple tasks," feel free to start that one as well (a la Awkward Stock Photos or Stock Photo Cliches)!

Older stuff:

this photo has been going around since 12/17/09

thanks obama, claming he made other countries hate us 6/22/2009

thanks obama for misery 6/2011

Yay, I've been frontpaged. Thanks guys.

Yeah

haha i had a whole folder full of these

I'm 95% sure the phrase "thanks, Obama" came from one of the "Drunk Uncle" segments on SNL's Weekend Update.

Probably not the origin, but here's a video from March 10, 2011 with the line. Skip to 1:33

What kind of idiot slices a loaf of bread like that?

I think "Infomercial Fails" would be a simpler name. I can help get the entry up if you guys want. Also, sorry for bumping.

don't know how relevant it is, but recently in TF2, people have responded to instances of bad luck with "thanks Obama"
ie. turn a corner, get killed by sentry, post in chat "thanks a lot Obama"
also seen it in response to being one shotted by a critical hit

I've seen this around Imgur comments as well, particularly on photos where something bad has happened.
Ie. "Here's a photo of my broken model" "Thanks Obama!"
There are also photos captioned "Thanks Obama" including a C&H comic on 1/23/13.

Funny… After the infomercial fail just came to fruition on this site, I've been seeing lots of their gifs on Google search with the "Thanks Obama" texts. Just my observations.

Add: After seeing amanda b and others' posts above, I gotta say that this "Thanks Obama" really do look more appropriate for the infomercial fail gifs.

Katanas>Guns any day of the week.

THIS THREAD ISNT DEAD YET!!!!

r/thanksobama

My work here is finished.