Teens have discovered body paint, and they’re using it to troll. Contrary to raging hormones and the need to fuck shit up once you hit high school, the youth of today have passed up exploring each other’s bodies in favor of tapping into their artistic skills.
It started with sweet depictions of sunsets on the backs of teens and quickly devolved into memes.
started painting a sunset but thought of something even more beautiful… pic.twitter.com/8gefYlQn3t
— kael (@caleighburnham) July 2, 2016
told him I was painting a sunset on his back and he waited impatiently for an hour for the drawing to become him pic.twitter.com/weozTKv7OS
— mariah mead (@MariahMead4) July 26, 2016
she wanted a painting of the sunset..😂😭 @SProuhet pic.twitter.com/bD6X3jVthl
— Hanna Boyer (@hannaboyer16) July 21, 2016
Some of the earliest tweets featuring this artistic bait-and-switch date back to the middle of June. Since then, Twitter moments and outlets like this one have picked up on the trend.
Teens say they're painting a sunset, but the truth is much worse https://t.co/sAT5XuEzCJ pic.twitter.com/GJnuomofgm
— Mashable (@mashable) August 3, 2016
As with all internet-based trends, the memeification of backs has come full circle in its trolling.
https://twitter.com/sozimcaitlyn/status/757803868705083392
https://twitter.com/TheRealAalia/status/754563028109045760
https://twitter.com/BrielleAngeliqu/status/759259388863537152
It’s also inspired members of the “Dicks out for Harambe” movement. Painting images of the fallen ape is yet another way to bare all for a good cause. Sure, no peen is visible, but the message and intent are still there.
https://twitter.com/fattydaddyy/status/759064079285706752
I told her I was painting a sunset. (I hope no one takes this the wrong way it's just a joke) 💓 @BreeTrill pic.twitter.com/LRgekyAXGk
— bree 🦋 (@ofbreee) July 25, 2016
https://twitter.com/eemzyy/status/751943832762068992
As hilariously awful as this teen trend is, it’s pretty much dead on arrival. Shitty sandwich chain Jimmy John’s has already ruined it with a tweet from June 30.
He thought she was painting a sunset 😏 pic.twitter.com/8DrNwZ1xfZ
— Jimmy John’s (@jimmyjohns) July 1, 2016
Tune in next time when teens do a thing, the internet picks up on it, and brands commodify it.