#79: Insta-Insults
A Journey Into Darkness: Internet Comments
The comment section after online posts is the Internet version of going to your local division of motor vehicles branch.
At the DMV, you run into people from all walks of life. It’s available to everyone, and as you sit on a bench, window number in hand, you are joined by a never-ending stream of others who you might, or might not, see in your daily routine.
The same is true for the online comment section. The article before the comments might be a word-dense, esoteric review of the latest Broadway hit or an incisive, thoughtful political treatise, but what comes after it is a smorgasburg of human reactions.
For that reason and others, I rarely post online these days aside from this substack. Mostly I lurk, look up stuff and, at times, like everyone else, head “straight to the comments.”
Recently, however, I saw a marketing meme on Instagram that puzzled me, and after thinking about it I posted a short comment representing my reaction.
Yes, I entered the arena. Let the beating commence.
First, here’s the meme that made me pause:
I get it. It’s “IYKYK” (If You Know You Know) humor, masquerading as an lol.
But underneath the hood, it’s an antiestablishment post praising what it views as clever, more emotional advertising created by a younger generation.
It’s also a claim that falls in the realm of my expertise – crafting effective messages. So I thought about the meme longer than most, and then, breaking my usual taboo, posted my clinical opinion:
“Left tells me nothing. Right gives me info and I can decide if I am interested. I would laugh at the one on the left, and then forget about it.”
Simple description of my perspective. Nothing insulting. I figured a few people would read it before it was lost to other replies. Maybe other marketing types would post perspectives I hadn’t considered.
Um, no.
The arena of internet comments is not a kind place. It’s occasionally clever, and sometimes emotional, but mostly? Internet comments are fueled by meanness.
Since I posted that comment, it has received 499 likes (I’m #1!) – and 82 comments. And counting.
Most are not supportive. More come in every day, and they don’t disappoint. Here’s a selection, shared in their actual form:
“OK boomer unc grandpa” – du.mp4533
“It’s a meme old fart.” - juansinatra06
There were a variety of “OK Boomer” responses. Boomers are frequent targets, viewed as fuddy duddies with no sense of humor - even if (and sometimes because) they have more experience than those who mock them. Personally, I’ve always kind of liked “unc” since first hearing it a few years ago on ESPN’s First Take.
Some posters went beyond a simple generational insult to question my reading ability. As often happens when people are being mean, I think their choice of smack says more about them than me.
“If you are driving you can’t read everything on the right at highway speeds…” – alex_puresilver
“On the right hand side though most people don’t have the time to read all that while driving” – the beanmerchantofficial
A couple of comments went straight to politics, which is more confusing to me than the ad.
“Left uses sympathy to sell cars.” – fuyumi_ono
THEN people got aggressive.
“Oh yeah gramps, you’re really doing math on the amortization while going down the fucking road. Get bent” – gorgonzolajeez
That seems … excessive.
“Time to enter a box and float down the river, your generation took and ruined enough.” - K.l.s._2
Ok, THAT’S excessive.
“That’s why you’re bitter and old and will die alone, the future is now you stupid old fuck” - macadamia_studios
Wait, THAT is definitely excessive, but it did a nice job of tying it all together.
I’m still getting responses to my reaction. Most are not kind, though a few are clever.
The original poster took time in the comments to explain the meme’s point in detail. Specifically:
“Audiences are tired of being sold to, they want to be entertained or simply feel a human connection. This ‘Gen Z’ approach works because it leans into the absurdity of the internet, creating a ‘scroll-stopping’ effect that a standard car ad simply can’t achieve.”
In truth, that earnest explanation (which is far longer than the snippet I posted above) is the funniest thing about all of this. Because using humor or human connection in an ad is a technique that has existed for decades. “Where’s the beef?” anyone?
In other words, a Gen Z influencer has “discovered” yet another thing that existed before Gen Z became aware of it.
THAT is truly the most Gen Z thing ever.