meme
Distracted Boyfriend
A 2017 stock photo of a man turning to look at another woman while his girlfriend looks on in disapproval. Used as a reaction template for any "X is abandoning Y for Z" framing.
Cultural layers
Internet Native
Era
2010s
About this entry
The photo was taken by Antonio Guillem in 2015. It became the "Distracted Boyfriend" meme on Reddit in 2017 and is one of the most-recycled stock photo templates of the late 2010s.
When to use
- Commentary on shifting consumer preferences ("users abandoning X for Y").
When not to use
- Personal-relationship contexts — the template is jokey, not empathetic.
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