Life imitating art, or how a meme started a presidential campaign

Sometimes, all it takes is one photo to make a classic meme. For Stacy and Adam, it was when they saw a casual photo of Hillary Clinton texting away the hours on a flight. Clinton, sunglasses down, expression neutral, provided the basis for Texts From Hillary – a satirical take on the mobile conversations of the Secretary of State. It went viral back in 2012, allowing users to making some amusing content around Hillary's inner musings, as well as allowing Hillary to position herself as someone who has a wry sense of humour and Gets The Internet. Sometimes the target of these memes was Mr Internet himself, Mark Zuckerberg...

http://textsfromhillaryclinton.tumblr.com/post/20599587066/original-image-by-kevin-lamarque-for-reuters

http://textsfromhillaryclinton.tumblr.com/post/20796979516/source-joey-devillaglobal-nerdy-original-image

The meme played off other pop culture references, like the friendly fire between late night comedy hosts Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert…

http://textsfromhillaryclinton.tumblr.com/post/20776605823/original-image-by-diana-walker-for-time

And the enduring Feminist Ryan Gosling meme.

http://textsfromhillaryclinton.tumblr.com/post/20588228165/original-image-by-diana-walker-for-time

Keeping it topical, they even memed a reference to the great (and unfortunately named) Anthony Weiner nude photo leak of 2012.

http://textsfromhillaryclinton.tumblr.com/post/20535845208/original-image-by-diana-walker-for-time

There was always a common theme throughout the meme though, and that involved possible greater ambitions for HRC.

http://textsfromhillaryclinton.tumblr.com/post/20501704983/original-image-by-kevin-lamarque-for-reuters

Stacy and Adam saw opportunity in creating a meme from a simple candid photo, but they probably didn't quite see the level of potential it could bring – this meme launched the social media presence for a woman now running for president. When Hillary added herself to the twittersphere, she did so using the meme photo, the hashtag #tweetsfromhillary and a thank you note for the inspiration. This meme had world power!

Welcome and best bio ever @HillaryClinton pic.twitter.com/ypey7bdAXU

— pattiesellers (@pattiesellers) June 10, 2013