Trade Offer

About

Trade Offer refers to a series of memes in which various barter trades are being proposed, with the memes using the 2020 NBA Draft jingle and parodying a generic trade request message in video games. The format gained popularity on TikTok in March 2021, with a video by TikToker bradeazy later becoming a source material for memes in which an extremely unequal exchange is proposed.

Origin

On November 12th, 2020, TikTok^[1] user @natebellamy4 posted a video that used a jingle played during the 2020 NBA draft, captioning the video "Trade proposal to God" and offering on behalf of humanity to swap several living people for several dead. The TikTok received over 683,700 likes and 86,800 likes in five months (shown below).

The video did not spark a trend until March 2021. On March 8th, TikTok^[2] user tylertctv posted a video in which he proposed a trade offer to God. The video received over 440,000 views and 66,100 likes in one month (shown below).

Spread

In the following days, the format gained a significant presence on TikTok with multiple viral examples of the meme posted in mid-March 2021. On March 8th and 9th, TikTokers^[3][4][5] schmuellersvibechamber, macncheesegrrl and jushlarsen posted some of the earliest versions of the meme, gaining over 461,000, 295,000 and 1 million views, respectively (shown below).

Bradeazy's Trade Offer

Prior to March 18th, 2021, TikTok^[6] user bradeazy posted a version of the meme in which he, dressed in formal wear, offered nothing in exchange for a "sloppy toppy" (the original TikTok is no longer available). On March 18th, bradeazy reposted the video to his Instagram^[7] account where it gained over 11,000 likes (also unavailable).

Also on March 18th, iFunny^[8] user ChipSkylark reposted the video to the app, where it gained over 42,100 smiles after being featured. Between March 18th and April 3rd, 2021, bradeazy posted four additional memes using the format on TikTok.^{[9][10][11][12]}

On March 18th, iFunny^[13] user Buffchicks_likedick posted the earliest derivative meme based on the video, altering the caption to include "A Bionicals lego Set." The post gained over 320 smiles (shown below).

The format did not achieve pronounced popularity until late March 2021 when bradeazy's first video and a still image from it received viral spread.^[14][15] On March 29th, an unknown user posted a Team Fortress 2 version of the meme that was widely circulated^[16][17] online in the following days (shown below, left). On April 2nd, 2021, Redditor^[18] Cryoffe posted a meme that gained over 17,000 upvotes in the /r/196 subreddit in four days (shown below, right).

In early April 2021, the still image from bradeazy's "Trade Offer" video has been widely used as an exploitable and source material for redraws.

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References