About

Frog or Rat is a TikTok trend in which it is suggested that everyone in the world looks like either a frog or a rat and you can tell by their facial features. The social game emerged in mid-2020 but continued to spread over the following years until it reached viral status in 2022. The trend of attempting to categorize people into one of two animals that aren't traditionally considered cute is also sometimes used during interviews, with answers on certain celebrities rarely changing and supposedly solidifying the theory.

Origin

The earliest known example of the Frog or Rat trend dates back to June 6th, 2020, when TikToker Ellen Knight^[1] uploaded a video in which she talked about the theory that she and her friends have that everyone looks like either of the two animals. In the clip, she also runs down a list of celebrities and what she believes they would be identified as, earning over 85,000 likes in two years (shown below).

Spread

The meme began to spread slowly from that point, with a major video about the trend not getting big until January 20th, 2021, after TikTok creator Lilyb^[2] uploaded a video in which she goes through her friend's list and labels her friends with comical titles such as "ratatouille" and "rat vibes yes," earning over 252,000 likes in one year (shown below).

On May 18th, 2022, a major revival of the meme was kicked off with the Jamo & Dylan^[3] podcast talking about the topic and going through some celebrities, which encouraged their fans to make more TikToks about the trend and ultimately led to it trending. Their post went on to gain over 190,000 likes in one month (shown below).

On June 4th, as part of the hype and press releases for the new season of Stranger Things, the Kyle and Jackie O podcast show did an interview^[4] with three stars from the show, inviting them to play the trend by labeling their costars (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References