Harmful meme: Devious lick trend
The harmful meme I chose for this assignment was the “devious licks trend”. This trend/challenge involved seeing who could take the biggest objects, usually from a school, and get away with it. The bigger the object you would manage to take, the more awesome your “lick” would be. Many participated in this trend in 2021, which was majorly popularized on the TikTok platform.
At first, it would start small, by stealing small things, however, the trend would get more and more out of control, such as stealing toilets, sinks, and various other school-owned properties, as seen in the picture above. Many objects have been destroyed by this trend, and it made it harder for some students to use these facilities, as they would be taken away from them. Another harmful effect this causes is putting more work on the custodians who work there, as it’s their job to fix the messes we create and don’t have any involvement with the school other than doing their job.
Personally, I dislike this trend a lot, and I’m glad it had died down when it did. It would only cause problems for other students and it also caused many to lose access to certain needs. The trend is just destructive in itself and has no redeeming qualities to it other than being
Alternative meme: Plastic baby trend
Now, this isn’t a meme/trend I made myself, but it coincides with the alternative I have to the “devious lick” trend. The plastic baby trend is essentially placing these small fingertip-sized plastic babies around in various places for people to stumble upon. My alternative would be something similar, as it would consist of placing little knick-knacks around the school. It would be putting things there (small and nondestructive items), rather than taking things away.
I don’t believe this would have a higher impact than devious licks had, but the plastic baby trend is a good example of a good meme that DID rise in popularity, as it was just silly and for laughs! Unfortunately, the internet is known for having bad things take a rise in popularity than good things. People like to see others in unfortunate circumstances or have others break the rules. This alternative meme can try and change that though, as it shows you can have fun without having to be destructive.
1 Response
I think I agree with the take that the devious lick trend was bad, I didnt think about how it could take away access to certain needs for students. I also think the plastic baby trend is a funny and harmless meme/joke that is definitely a positive alternative to the devious lick trend.