MA-0023 · first seen 2015
Distracted Boyfriend
A stock photo of a man turning to look at another woman while his girlfriend stares in disbelief: the template for temptation.
- Status
- ClassicPeaked more than five years ago
- Trend score
- 36/100Estimated
- Change, 90 days
- +1%Estimated
- Peak
- 85Aug 2017
- Years active
- 10Index of 30 or more
- First seen
- 20152015
Popularity over time
Monthly attention from Jun 2015 to Oct 2026. Hover or tab through the chart for each month.
- First appearance
- Went viral
- Peak
- Decline
Attention index, 0 to 100 on one scale for the whole archive. Estimated from each meme’s key dates, not measured.
About
Photographer Antonio Guillem took the picture in Girona, Spain, in mid-2015 as part of a stock photography shoot titled “Disloyal man with his girlfriend looking at another girl”. It sat in agency catalogues for years. Early uses of it as a meme appeared in January 2017, but it exploded on 19 August 2017 when a Twitter post used it to joke about generational politics.
The format is a pure grammar of choices: label the man, the girlfriend and the other woman, and any preference becomes a joke. The image was later used by advertisers, banned in a Swedish advertisement ruling and held up as the quintessential stock-photo meme.
Origin
A stock photograph by Antonio Guillem, taken in Girona in mid-2015.
2015
Viralization
Used in a Turkish Facebook group in January 2017; went viral on Twitter on 19 August 2017.
19 August 2017
Peak
August 2017, the month it exploded across Twitter, Facebook and Reddit.
Aug 2017
Timeline
From the first post to where it stands today.
Origin
A stock photo
Antonio Guillem photographs actors in Girona for a stock library.
Early adoption
A prog rock group
A Turkish progressive rock Facebook group becomes the first known user of the image as a meme.
Viral
Generational politics
A Twitter post turns the image into the dominant template of the month.
Peak
Everyone is labelled
The format is applied to every subject, from politics to pasta.
Decline
An advertising ruling
Sweden’s advertising ombudsman rules that an internet provider’s use of the image violated gender discrimination rules.
Current
A standing template
Used whenever a choice is being presented as temptation.
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