About

Parents Throwing Baby refers to a photoshopped image of a man and woman tossing an infant across a chasm.

Origin

In the Spring 1995 Patagonia outdoor wear catalog, the company featured. a photograph by Greg Epperson featuring a man and woman tossing a bag across a chasm (shown below, left).^[1]

The earliest available version of the photoshopped version appeared on the /r/pics Reddit on January 23rd, 2011. That day, Redditor^[2] RocketRobinhood received more than 1,300 points (95% upvoted) and 495 comments in eight years (shown below, right).

Spread

Following the post, Redditors posted photoshops of the scene, specifically removing the parents. Redditor samfo posted the image and received more than 800 points in eight years (shown below, left).

On June 30th, 2011, the website Semi Rad^[1] reached out to both Patagonia and the image's photographer, confirming that the image appeared in the Patagonia advertisement. However, they were unable to confirm whether the photographer, Greg Epperson, is responsible for the photoshop. They write, "I e-mailed Epperson to ask if the photo was real or not, and he didn’t comment on its authenticity. He is definitely not happy with the theft of his image and where it’s gone on the Internet, since it violates his copyright. Did he manipulate it? Only Epperson really knows: ‘Maybe I did or maybe I didn’t,’ he says."

Six years later, on March 9th, 2017, Redditor^[3] Jpf123 posted the image in the /r/Campingandhiking subreddit. The post received more than 7,000 points. That day, the image was posted in the /r/PhotoshopBattles subreddit,^[4] receiving more than 665 points (95% upvoted) and 40 comments (examples below).

On March 14th, 2019, Redditor^[5] organic_crystal_meth posted an object-labeled version of the image that references the anti-vaccination movement. The post received more than 28,000 points (90% upvoted) and 1,500 comments (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References