The Economy of Memes

Nick Sallman

Mr. Reuter

Economics

20 Dec. 2016

The Economy of Memes

The definition of Meme or memes is “an element of a culture or system of behavior that may be considered to be passed from one individual to another by nongenetic means, especially imitation. a humorous image, video, piece of text, etc. that is copied (often with slight variations) and spread rapidly by Internet users” (Google Dictionary). The popular memes are changing frequently as Demand for new memes increase the supply of new memes flow strongly. A popular location to view memes in social media where you can typically find thousands of memes per day. Recently the trending meme has been the Bee Movie where the joke is the entire bee movie but with a twist. This is another meme over here ----> where the Rock is displayed several times buttoning his sleeve. Memes typically don’t involve logic they just have some sort of pun or joke hence the bee movie taking all the fame. Another meme that has been very popular is one that most know and love that is sadly beginning to die. This meme is known as Harambe. Harambe was a gorilla that died because of a parent that let their child fall into the gorilla exhibit at Cincinnati zoo. These memes are not so much jokes, these ones serve as a tribute to our Harambe. Harambe memes are one of the most popular memes I have seen and one of the most long lasting starting On May 28th, 2016 the day of Harambe’s passing. This day meme artists took the opportunity cost to create Harambe memes in honor of the Fallen Harambe. While I understand the Harambe is sad for many lovers of nature out there it has been about 7 months since his passing and he’s still managing to make it on to popular meme pages if this isn’t dedication to honoring a fallen Harambe then I’m not sure what is. Now you may be wondering “what do Memes have to do with economics?” well my colleagues Memes are very similar to buying and investing. Much like investing you choose to create a Meme at the best possible time in order to gain the most popularity for your Meme thus the opportunity cost of a meme is implemented. Another thing about memes no matter what the meme there is always a substitute for a meme with another pun giving you hours of endless comedy or excitement. The meme market is an open market and always has opportunities to join. A Meme is more than a simple joke a meme is a work of art. Memes can display a comical situation, a fallen Harambe, A jerry Seinfeld movie, and many other subjects. Without memes our society would be a very bland and boring place to live. There are many benefits to having memes in our world and thus Memes have brought us to the place we live today. If you ever get bored simply look up memes I can promise you will not be disappointed the search is definitely worth it