About

Pokemon Wearing Glasses is a photo fad that involves putting a pair of eyeglasses on a stuffed Pokemon doll and sharing the photograph online. The meme is believed to have been inspired by an advertising campaign for an officially licensed Pokemon-themed eyewear accessory that was released in July 2014.

Origin

On July 27th, 2014, Instagram user JohnTV^[1] uploaded a photo of a display for Pokemon-themed sunglasses which featured two cardboard Pikachus in glasses with thick black frames, within a week the photo has gained over 50 likes.

Pokemon Sunglasses for Kids

In June 2014, Nintendo teamed up with the Japanese eyewear makers Zoff to introduce a line of officially licensed Pokemon-themed sunglasses for kids, which also comes with a toy replica of the Pokeball. The product wasreleased across Japan on July 19th at a retail price of ¥3,500, or approximately $35 in USD (shown below).

Spread

On July 29th, 2014, Kotaku^[2] published an article titled "Pokémon Wearing Glasses Is a Meme" which cited JohnTV's photo as launching the meme and included a roundup of notable examples found on Twitter. On July 30th, Fashionably Geek^[3] published a post titled "Pokémon Wearing Glasses Is An Adorable New Meme." On July 31st, the official Facebook page^[4] for Nintendo 3DS Singapore posted images of the meme asking their fans:

"Pokemon wearing glasses is now officially a meme because they look so good in them. What do you think?"

Notable Examples

External References