@dudewithsign is a popular Instagram account that features a tall man in sunglasses holding a cardboard sign in various public places. Except instead of a serious protest message, the sign has a funny aphorism about modern life, like “Who TF is writing Yelp reviews?” or “You can go cold-dive without telling everyone.”
The guy of the same name is Seth Phillips, an employee of Jerry Media, a social media marketing agency founded by Elliot Tebele of the popular Instagram meme account @fuckjerry.
Tebele originally came up with the concept of holding a protest sign with a funny phrase, but only made a few Instagram posts using it. Phillips later reinvigorated the idea and caught on: the Instagram account now has 8 million followers and she does ads for brands like Wingstop, CVS, Dunkin’ and more, displaying fun brand or product-related signs ( BuzzFeed once hired Phillips to hold up a custom sign at an event.)
FJerry and its other affiliated companies have filed at least seven lawsuits since November 2022 against brands that allegedly used the Dude With Sign image without permission to post memes on their brands’ social media accounts.
The brands that received lawsuits include Avid, a technology company; All Access Dietetics, a training program for dietitians; Itchy, a treatment for psoriasis; BruMate, a thermos cup company; RQ Insurance and Club de Bocadillos. All of these brands posted versions of the Dude With Sign meme on their official Instagram accounts with the photo edited to make it look like Phillips was holding a sign with a message about their respective brands.
