About

Guy Chained To Cigarette is an exploitable meme template that uses an image of a man with his back turned and a smoking cigarette chained to his leg. The meme is typically used to depict one's personal addictions or vices. The image was originally a pictorial health warning on tobacco products on the island of Mauritius in the year 2008, but gained virality in March 2023 with people photoshopping their own vices in place of the cigarette.

Origin

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recognizes the image of a man chained to a cigarette as an anti-smoking warning on tobacco products. WHO's website lists the image as being used in the year 2008 in the nation of Mauritius (seen below, left).^[1] A November 19th, 2010, a blog post on "Le Blogue Du Montréal Multiple" posted a Matinée cigarette box with the image in question (seen below, right).^[2]

Spread

On March 2nd, 2023, Twitter^[3] user @trashboy_______ posted the image to Twitter, gathering over 20,000 likes in over two weeks (seen below, left). On March 4th, Twitter^[4] user @CRUZINNNNN posted a version of the image in which the cigarette was traded for a joint in a post that gathered over 5,000 likes in over two weeks (seen below, right).

On March 25th, Twitter^[5] user @JustNephew posted a tweet photoshopping Swedish rapper Bladee's album Icedancer into the place of the cigarette, gathering over 2,000 likes in over three days (seen below, left). On March 27th, the Instagram^[6] page @girlfromwebsite posted a version of the meme in which the vice is shown to be the Instagram app.

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References