Bad Luck Brian

Kyle Craven (born August 10, 1989), commonly known by his Internet nickname "Bad Luck Brian", is an American Internet celebrity known for his ubiquitous photo posted on Reddit in 2012, which quickly became a popular Internet meme.

Bad Luck Brian
Craven in the "Bad Luck Brian" photo he is known for
Born
Kyle Craven

(1989-08-10) August 10, 1989
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
EducationArchbishop Hoban High School
Known forBad Luck Brian meme

Craven's popularity originated from his intentionally "ridiculous"[1] high school yearbook photo posted to the social news website Reddit by his friend Ian Davies on January 24, 2012 at 2:15 UTC.[2] Craven and Davies both attended Archbishop Hoban High School in Akron, Ohio.[3]

The photo quickly became a popular image macro on social media networks like Facebook and Twitter, depicting "a guy who can’t catch a break [...] a symbol for a stroke of hilarious bad luck"[1] and was turned into T-shirts, stuffed animals and novelty items sold by Walmart and Hot Topic.[1] Volkswagen and other companies paid to use his picture in their advertising campaigns. Craven stated that he rubbed his face with a sweater to redden it and adopted an obnoxious smile; however, the high school principal at the time had him retake the photo [4]. Craven works for his father's construction business building churches.[5][6]

In October 2018, Craven did a series of advertisements for McDonald's featuring the Bad Luck Brian character, which were featured on YouTube, Reddit, and Spotify.[7] Including licensing deals and merchandise, Craven estimates he made $20,000 within three years since 2015. [8]

References
  1. Contrere, Jessica (January 5, 2015). "Being Bad Luck Brian: When the meme that made you famous starts to fade away". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
  2. "Bad Luck Brian". Reddit. Reddit. Archived from the original on 12 May 2012. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  3. "Washington Post profiles Cuyahoga Falls native behind 'Bad Luck Brian' meme". Cleveland.com. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  4. Mary Kinney, "'Bad Luck Brian' meme brings in a big paycheck", "AOL", 2015-01-07
  5. Gidan, Jenn (January 6, 2015). "An Internet Meme's Real Life: Building Churches". Newser. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
  6. "Anatomy of a meme: The real story of Bad Luck Brian, his viral class portrait and the fleeting nature of online fame". National Post. January 6, 2015. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
  7. McDonald's (2018-10-05), Trick. Treat. Win!: Bad Luck Brian | McDonald's, retrieved 2018-10-09
  8. Mary Kinney, "'Bad Luck Brian' meme brings in a big paycheck", "AOL", 2015-01-07


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