BBC ― The original image of the iconic meme featuring Chloe Clem’s sideward glance is being sold for thousands of dollars at an auction.
Now 10-year-old Chloe became an internet hit in 2013 for her side-eye glance. The image became a heavily used meme for anyone showing concern.
The original image is being sold as a non-fungible token (NFT) at an auction, reported BBC on Thursday (Sept 23).
An NFT is a unit of data stored digitally, giving ownership to someone who has the original version of the image.
An NFT comes with a digital certificate of ownership for the piece, often viral memes or tweets. It can then be sold much like physical art pieces.
Even if copies of the meme are produced or sold, only the NFT holder has its original version.
Chloe’s mother, Katie, first uploaded the video in Sept 2013 on YouTube, which has over 20 million views to date.
The video featured her two daughters reacting to a surprise Disneyland trip.
“I opened up Tumblr, and there were just pages and pages of Chloe’s face,” said Katie to BBC.
“It was very weird, very overwhelming. I had my family, friends sending me these memes – till this day, they still send me the memes of Chloe they see on the internet,” she added.
Chloe’s family decided to auction the original image as an NFT, with bids starting at 5 Ethereum (a cryptocurrency worth about $15,000 or S$20,000).
Her mom said it was a “no brainer” to sell the meme after learning about NFTs.
“It’s a cool opportunity, especially if there’s a Chloe fan out there who loves this meme they’ll be able to own it. Even Chloe has said, ‘that’s pretty cool’ – it’s a typical 10-year-old thing to say,” she said.
She plans to use the money for her daughter’s education.
The NFT market recently boomed, with several multi-dollar deals conducted.
Twitter founder Jack Dorsey sold his first tweet for $2.9 million in March to a Malaysia-based businessman. /TISG
Read related: “Mighty Khor” memes abound after lightning strikes manhole at Bukit Batok
Lee Hsien Yang said he doesn’t need to be repaid for contribution towards court appeal: Jolovan Wham