Ah, I see the breadsticks meme, having saturated the market, has passed out of phase one (“classic”) and is now into phase two (“self-referential,” where usage of the meme can only be understood with the original form functioning as referent). I can’t wait to see it reach phase three (“hybrid,” where it merges with another meme fatigued by phase two), phase four (“dada,” where the meme passes out of conventional usages of language), and phase five (“exhausted,” or the universal sensation of why the fuck is it still on my dash). Thus the meme reaches its hibernation stage to remain in stasis until extinction or ironic revival.
At what stage do we usually see the Denny’s tumblr using it?
Denny’s is an early adopter of the corporatization of memes and is an atypical representative of that phenomenon. Typical corporate meme exploitation occurs any point after meme critical popularity–that is, the moment when a meme passes from niche to inescapable. The key feature of the corporate variant is that it tends to rapidly accelerate the meme lifecycle towards phase five because commodification of memes directly conflicts with their organic communal development. Denny’s, however, is generally an exception to this rule. This is because of three reasons. Firstly the initial novelty of their social media presence. This has become the second reason, their legacy. This is their identity on tumblr and they have become a meme unto themselves. And they’ve been able to do this because thirdly, their brand is highly compatible with memes. They’re a chain restaurant but not a behemoth like McDonald’s, they have a distinct character without being controversial, and their memes feel authentic because eating in a Denny’s at two in the morning is the physical manifestation of surreal meaninglessness of phase four.
