On Jan. 9, a Starbucks barista in Norwalk, California, served Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Deputy Brandon Longoria a drink with a doodle that the deputy immediately took offense to. The doodle depicted “John Pork is calling,” a viral meme of an anthropomorphic pig, well known amongst Gen Z social media users to be harmless “brainrot” and without true meaning. Longoria interpreted the doodle as an anti-cop sentiment targeted towards him, sharing on Instagram, “It felt discouraging and disrespectful, especially after a long day of serving the community.” After Longoria’s complaint reached his colleagues at the sheriff’s department, together they contacted Starbucks demanding action against the employee. The incident led to an investigation, and Starbucks consequently let the employee go. However, Starbucks released a statement in defense of the barista, stating that it was never the barista’s intention for the cup to be served to a customer, but rather to other employees.
Longoria’s interpretation of the doodle likely comes from an unfamiliarity with the “John Pork” meme, which is why the illustration of a pig left him feeling targeted. Because meme culture is so embedded in our society, one’s unfamiliarity with memes becomes an issue of a lack of cultural literacy rather than a societal one where the people who make the jokes are at fault.
There is a need for a general understanding of meme culture. Gaps in communication lead to content being labeled as “offensive” or “misinformative.” Miscommunication looks like many different things, especially in terms of technology. One could send a GIF in a public comment section as a joke, but what’s a joke to them and their community may not be a joke to someone else’s. Not everyone interprets the memes they see on social media as comedic, as some even take offense to it. In a digital world where it’s easy to take jabs at someone and disguise it as “jokes,” are people being “too woke” or is there genuine miscommunication?
According to Anastasia Denisova at the University of Westminster, “Memes are virally transmitted remixed images with words that poke fun at cultural or social norms that can change meaning multiple times through further sharing and remixing.”
The virality of memes implies that there is some level of cultural literacy among the people who pass the sentiment around. Memes often reference cultural or social sentiments that one has to understand in order to get the comedic aspect of the meme. However, not everyone can relate with the comedic aspects of certain memes.
As per Amelie Lee of Scripps Voice, “Memes tend to commodify other people’s trauma, making fun of the past or present plight of certain groups of people in a satirical or humorous way.” In this case, memes can be used to make fun of the struggles of others.
This makes people who aren’t culturally literate or at least aware of certain memes unlikely to understand that they are not being targeted. Social media holds so many memes– some of which blatantly disrespect certain groups or perpetuate stereotypes, leaving people feeling attacked rather than amused with the reference.
Social media doesn’t always bring people together, as ideas can be shared but not all interpreted the same way. While memes could be used as cultural currency, they could also be used to marginalize people and make them feel attacked. With proper attention paid to the intended audience and who may see a meme, the issue of misinterpretations can be solved. Recognizing that context is very important when it comes to memes could inspire cultural change and less accusations of a “woke epidemic”.
