Culture

Dolly Parton Has Started A Meme About The Truth Behind The Way We Use Social Media Profile Pics

Dolly Parton, meme queen.

by Joseph Earp  25 January 2020
Dolly Parton starts DollyPartonChallenge

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Dolly Parton is many things: a musician, an activist, and an icon. But now, thanks to the #DollyPartonChallenge, it’s time to add meme queen to that list.

The challenge began when Dolly — or, let’s be real: her social media intern — posted a series of photographs designed to skew the different kinds of profile pictures we use on various social media platforms.

There’s the classy, professional pictures we post to LinkedIn. The friendly, personable photos we post on Facebook. The glamorous, cultured photographs we post on Instagram. And the lascivious, inviting photographs that we post on Tinder.

The meme’s funny, it’s snappy, and it’s relatable. Little wonder that within a couple of hours, the photograph had racked up almost a quarter of a million likes.

Even less of a wonder that, within a few days, everybody was jumping on the #DollyPartonChallenge, and showcasing their own various angles and attitudes. Quickly, submissions came from such varied sources as an actual official fire brigade, and, uh, Democratic frontrunner for President Bernie Sanders (not really.)

Celebrities Love The #DollyPartonChallenge

Interestingly, the meme is like catnip for celebrities, many of whom have jumped onto the trend.

Here’s Will Smith offering his version…

…Here’s celebrated character actor Sterling K. Brown with his…

…Here’s Sharon Stone, adding to the fun…

…Here’s Jared Leto, doing his ever-so-slightly odd thing…

…And here’s Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill, crushing the game completely.

The Good, The Bad, And The Weird

Of course, because this is a meme, very shortly the trend started going weird, with users subverting the formula against itself:

Gotta love the internet.