About

Back the Bluebonnets Challenge or #BackTheBLUEBonnets is a Twitter-based participatory photo challenge in which Texas police officers pose in a field of bluebonnet wildflowers.

Origin

On April 10th, 2018, @KeenePD^[3] posted a photo of an officer smiling and surrounded by bluebonnets (shown below). The photo received 30 likes in a year.

Spread

On March 19th, 2019, @OfcMarmarinos posted a short video of himself in uniform in a field of bluebonnets with the hashtag #backthebluebonnets (shown below).

On April 3rd, the Houston Police Department^[4] tweeted, "We know the #BacktheBluebonnets is making the rounds, but our officers will not be participating. Y'all might have forgot growing up but we ain't catching a charge from DPS for squashing a blue bonnet 💯 🌼👢👮‍♂️ #NiceTryThough" (shown below, left). The tweet accumulated 50 likes in two days. In the meantime, @HewittPD1^[2] posted a photo of a K-9 in a field of bluebonnets with the caption, "Felt cute, might sniff out drugs later." (shown below, right). The tweet gained 40 retweets and 198 likes in two days.

The same day, @MineralWellsPD^[1] posted a photo with two police officers in a field of bluebonnets eating donuts with the caption, "Felt cute might arrest someone later idk #DonutmesswithTexas #backthebluebonnets #wednesdaythoughts" (shown below, left). The tweet gained 2,900 likes and 800 retweets in two days. @CBS11Giles ^[5]posted a photo of an officer posing with bluebonnet butter with the caption, "Greatest #BackTheBLUEbonnets post yet" (shown below, right). The post gained 90 likes in two days.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References