Introduction

The Two Soyjaks Pointing meme features two Soyjak characters, a variant of Wojak, with one character pointing at an object behind them. This exploitable format gained significant popularity in October 2020, especially through various redraws.

Background

The Two Soyjaks Pointing meme is rooted in a photograph taken of two men, one of whom is pointing at a Beyond Fried Chicken sign. The image became an exploitable meme format and saw a surge of virality starting in late 2020, particularly through artist reinterpretations and parodies.

How It Began

On February 23rd, 2020, animal rights advocate John Oberg (@JohnOberg) shared a photograph on Twitter featuring himself and another man in front of a Beyond Fried Chicken sign at a KFC in Charlotte, North Carolina. In the image, Oberg holds a serving of Beyond Fried Chicken nuggets while the other man points at the sign, both displaying what is known as the 'Soyboy Face.' The tweet garnered over 450 retweets and 2,100 likes in the following months.

Internet Reaction

The meme began to circulate more widely on February 25th, 2020, when the Facebook group Occupy Democrats Logic used the photo in a post, which gained over 3,500 reactions and 1,900 shares. However, it wasn't until May 1st, 2020, that the image was first transformed into a meme format on 4chan. Through May 2020, the meme saw active spread across various boards on 4chan, with users creatively adapting the original image. The format saw a revival in late August 2020, and by October 2020, Oberg's repost of the photo on Twitter reignited interest, leading to a wave of new memes. In June 2021, the format gained renewed attention as a source for artistic redraws.