Bert Is Evil

1997

Date: 1997-2001 · Place: Fractalcow.com, Manila, Philippines · Figures: Dino Ignacio, web designer, Manila · Tags: Photoshop, Webby Award, Format Franchise 01. Bert With Hitler Dino Ignacio, a 22-year-old web designer in Manila, launches Bert Is Evil in 1997. The site Photoshops Sesame Street's Bert into the company of history's worst people: Hitler, the Unabomber, Pol Pot. The bit is that Bert's face is unchanged, his expression always faintly disapproving, and yet the juxtaposition reads as confession. It wins a Webby Award for Best Weird Site in 1998. 02. Bert With Bin Laden In October 2001, a Bangladeshi printer pulls a Bert-with-Bin-Laden image off Google for an anti-American protest poster. Reuters photographs the poster being carried in a Dhaka street demonstration. The photo runs worldwide. Sesame Workshop releases a statement; Ignacio shuts the site down voluntarily, fearing for his safety. It is the first incident of a meme escaping the internet, getting laundered through global news photography, and reaching the audience that originally made it as a stranger. Sources • BBC News, 'Sesame Street's Bert linked to Bin Laden' (11 October 2001) • Dino Ignacio, statement on fractalcow.com (October 2001, archive.org) • Know Your Meme, 'Bert Is Evil'