Clippy Campaign: Difference between revisions
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==Campaign origins== | ==Campaign origins== | ||
===Incipient stage=== | |||
On 7 August 2025, YouTuber Louis Rossmann uploaded a video titled "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_Dtmpe9qaQ Change your profile picture to clippy. I'm serious]" and encouraged his viewers to stand up against unethical practices of technology corporations (and companies in other industries) which violated consumer rights or otherwise proved detrimental to their paying customers. In the video, he suggested that members who join the movement could change their profile pictures on YouTube and other platforms to a Clippy, on the grounds that such an avatar was a fitting symbol, that avatars with a common theme would help participants recognize each other, and that the collective usage of the avatar in great numbers would raise questions among others and potentially draw attention to the movement.<ref name="first rossmann clippy video">{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_Dtmpe9qaQ |title=Change your profile picture to clippy. I'm serious |date=7 Aug 2025}}</ref><ref name="second rossmann clippy video">{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkL9vzW7nY0 |title=You Changed Your Profile to Clippy: Now What? 📎📎📎 |date=12 Aug 2025}}</ref> | On 7 August 2025, YouTuber Louis Rossmann uploaded a video titled "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_Dtmpe9qaQ Change your profile picture to clippy. I'm serious]" and encouraged his viewers to stand up against unethical practices of technology corporations (and companies in other industries) which violated consumer rights or otherwise proved detrimental to their paying customers. In the video, he suggested that members who join the movement could change their profile pictures on YouTube and other platforms to a Clippy, on the grounds that such an avatar was a fitting symbol, that avatars with a common theme would help participants recognize each other, and that the collective usage of the avatar in great numbers would raise questions among others and potentially draw attention to the movement.<ref name="first rossmann clippy video">{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_Dtmpe9qaQ |title=Change your profile picture to clippy. I'm serious |date=7 Aug 2025}}</ref><ref name="second rossmann clippy video">{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkL9vzW7nY0 |title=You Changed Your Profile to Clippy: Now What? 📎📎📎 |date=12 Aug 2025}}</ref> | ||
Rossmann stated that educating the public and spreading awareness of these issues was the primary motivation behind his call to action, and while winning the "legislative battle" would be a favorable end, it was not an imperative end at the first stage of the campaign.<ref name="first rossmann clippy video" /> | Rossmann stated that educating the public and spreading awareness of these issues was the primary motivation behind his call to action, and while winning the "legislative battle" would be a favorable end, it was not an imperative end at the first stage of the campaign.<ref name="first rossmann clippy video" /> | ||
===Motivations=== | |||
The scope of the campaign intersects with the general resistance to anti-ownership practices by companies that have become more common throughout the 2010s and early 2020s, such as denying paying customers the [[right to repair]] the products that they had purchased. In the video, Rossmann offered a non-exhaustive list of grievances that people have faced, as possible reasons for aligning with the campaign, shown below in brief (see [[Clippy Campaign#Examples|Examples]] for details): | The scope of the campaign intersects with the general resistance to anti-ownership practices by companies that have become more common throughout the 2010s and early 2020s, such as denying paying customers the [[right to repair]] the products that they had purchased. In the video, Rossmann offered a non-exhaustive list of grievances that people have faced, as possible reasons for aligning with the campaign, shown below in brief (see [[Clippy Campaign#Examples|Examples]] for details): | ||