There’s a chance you’re seeing a new friend on your social media scrolls. In fact, it could be in a meme or advertisement, or even as a part of a TikTok video. But, don’t be alarmed. He’s just a chill guy who means you no harm or anxiety as you go about your doom scroll.
The ‘chill guy’ meme is a recent addition to our internet index and you may see him depicted as a cartoon dog with a giant snout sporting a gray sweatshirt with his hands, or paws, tucked in ever so nonchalantly into the pockets of his blue jeans.
According to Know Your Meme, this very chill guy is originally from a drawing shared by X user Phillip Banks in 2023. He posted a photo of his new character saying that his whole deal was that he is just a chill guy. It took about a year, but eventually, people took that idea and ran with it.
Banks’s original posts grained a little bit of traction on X last year, so much so that he followed it up with a festive chill guy who just wants to wish you a Merry Christmas.
But, it wasn’t until someone took the character and reposted him on TikTok in the fall of 2024 that the meme began gaining traction. People began to post slide shows on the app of the very chill guy and used his overall calm demeanor to defuse hot takes or get themselves out of hypothetical sticky situations.
Eventually, this snowballed into a viral edit of the chill guy in an aesthetic field with soothing nature music behind it because, well, he’s just a chill guy.
People began to repost this video with captions of their own like “When school is whooping my ass but I remember I’m just a chill guy” or “When your girl’s made bc you forgot to text her but you’re really just a chill guy.”
Then the chill guy made his his way outside of the field and into meme-specific settings. For example, users added him into stock photos of beds to complain about their alarms going off when they’re just a chill guy who don’t want the stress of being up early in the morning, and companies added him into their offices or businesses to promote themselves via the very chill guy.
Some people even decided to add a bow to the character to make the chill guy into a chill girl. The memes are the same concept, just a little more feminine-specific. It also leads to people customizing the chill guy in other ways and some people even dress up in the chill guy uniform (gray sweater, blue jeans, and red covers) to show off just how chill they really are.
What the meme really boils down to is everyone has just gotten unbelievably chill lately and they now have an avenue through which to convey that. That avenue being a dog with a giant snout and a human body wearing the chilliest outfit ever. Naturally.
Published: Dec 5, 2024 01:47 pm