The Meme Textbook Part 2: The Language of the Internet | Page 9

Grumpy Cat
“Grumpy Cat” is a cat, named Tardar Sauce,
with a seemingly perpetual frown due to an
underbite. The image was first posted in 2012
on Reddit and became immediately viral. (Fig.
12) Early memes included photoshopping the
cat’s face to read as other emotions. Following
the lolcatz format, many pictures of “Grumpy
Cat” had top and bottom text about never
enjoying anything. (Fig. 11) “Grumpy Cat’s”
face has also appeared in many memes, often
as a voice of rejection or negativity. (Fig. 10)
This meme has been severely commercialized
by the owners of Tardar Sauce. Since 2012,
there have been hundreds of shirts, plush toys,
etc. sold at well known stores such as Urban
Outfitters and Hot Topic. A Grumpy Cat
book was released in 2013, which reached
number one in the Cats, Dogs and Animals
Humor category on Amazon in two weeks. In
late 2013, Tardar Sauce became the ‘spokes-
cat’ for Nestle Purina PetCare’s Friskies brand
cat food. There have also been a number of art
projects such as an offical comic book and a
gallery of “grumpy cat” based art in Alabama.
In 2013, Tardar Sauce appeared at Vidcon, an
annual convention for internet media makers.
fig. 10
fig. 11
fig. 12
The Meme Textbook | 9