Bad Luck Brian

"Bad Luck Brian" emerged as one of the most beloved memes, transforming a deliberately ridiculous high school yearbook photograph into a universal symbol for life's most comically unfortunate moments.

The source photograph was taken during the 2005-2006 school year at Archbishop Hoban High School in Akron, Ohio, featuring student Kyle Edward Craven wearing a plaid red sweater vest over a light blue polo shirt, complete with dental braces and an intentionally goofy expression (Wikipedia, 2025). Craven, known as the class clown, had deliberately created the absurd image by rubbing his face with a sweater to redden it and donning what he described as his most ridiculous expression.

The photograph was intended as a humorous take on the traditional yearbook portrait. Craven had specifically sought out the most hideous sweater vest he could find at a local thrift store, combining it with an exaggerated facial expression designed to amuse his friends (Daily Dot, 2025). However, the school's principal was not amused and required Craven to retake the photograph, deeming it "too bad of a picture for the yearbook" (All That's Interesting, 2018).

While Craven was forced to surrender the original print during retakes, he and his friend Ian Davies had already scanned and saved the digital version. In an act of defiance, Craven convinced someone on the yearbook staff to include his photograph twice in the final publication, ensuring his comedic vision would survive in some form.

The transformation from yearbook outtake to internet phenomenon occurred on January 23, 2012, at 2:15 UTC, when Ian Davies uploaded the photograph to Reddit with the caption "Takes driving test . . . gets first DUI" (Wikipedia, 2025). This original post received fewer than five upvotes, suggesting little initial interest in the format.

However, later that same day, another user posted a different Bad Luck Brian macro to Reddit with the caption "Tries to stealthily fart in class / shits," which reached the front page of the /r/adviceanimals subreddit, accumulating over 3,300 upvotes in less than two months (Know Your Meme, 2012). This second post established the meme's signature formula: embarrassing situations that escalate into exponentially worse outcomes.

The meme's rapid evolution demonstrated the collaborative nature of internet humor. Within hours of the initial posts, the image had spread to 4chan and various social media networks including Facebook and Twitter. The format proved remarkably versatile, with users creating countless variations depicting "a guy who can't catch a break," from bathroom humor to wholly unprintable scenarios (Wikipedia, 2025).

Craven himself became aware of his internet fame through a 4 a.m. phone call on January 24, 2012, from a friend who simply said, "Hey man, no big deal, I just made you Internet famous" (Washington Post, 2015). Unlike many involuntary meme subjects, Craven embraced his unexpected celebrity status, recognizing that the photograph had always been intended as a joke.

The meme's popularity led to significant commercial opportunities. Craven appeared at internet conventions across the country, selling merchandise while wearing different sweater vests. Bad Luck Brian-themed products appeared in major retailers including Walmart and Hot Topic, featuring everything from T-shirts to stuffed animals and novelty paperweights (Wikipedia, 2025).

The meme achieved mainstream recognition through various media appearances and commercial campaigns. In 2013, Craven appeared alongside fellow meme "Overly Attached Girlfriend" in a YouTube video sketch depicting the two characters on a date. McDonald's featured Craven in an advertising campaign in October 2018, while he also appeared in commercials for Volkswagen and other major brands (Wikipedia, 2025).

Craven's approach to managing his meme fame proved particularly savvy. He conducted an "Ask Me Anything" (AMA) session on Reddit in May 2012, during which he revealed his real name and shared stories behind the photograph. The community response was overwhelmingly positive, with Redditors creating new Bad Luck Brian instances based on Craven's own anecdotes, ironically discovering that he had experienced relatively good luck in real life, including winning an Xbox 360 and PSP within two weeks.

The meme's longevity exceeded typical internet attention spans, continuing to generate new variations and maintaining cultural relevance years after its initial appearance. In 2021, Craven capitalized on the NFT trend by selling a Bad Luck Brian non-fungible token for approximately $36,000, demonstrating the lasting commercial value of his inadvertent internet celebrity (Wikipedia, 2025).