Ugly Kids Viral Photo (Photo : Weibo)
Although an advertisement for cosmetic surgery clinic made Taiwanese model Heidi Yeh an Internet sensation for the “Ugly Kids” photo, it also cost her modeling jobs. SBS PopAsia listed the meme made from the photo as the top controversial viral photo or video in the Year of the Sheep which ends on Sunday.
What caused the photo to become viral, not only in Weibo but even in western social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, is a fake story spinned that the man filed a lawsuit against his wife, who was originally ugly until she underwent cosmetic surgery which she did not tell her husband. Despite the cosmetic procedure, because she has “ugly genes” then her three children still turned out to be ugly kids.
The meme makers created a story based on the caption of the original ad which reads, “The only thing you’ll ever have to worry about is how to explain it to the kids.”
Yeh said she regretted accepting the advertisement because afterward no agency offered her further modeling jobs. “People refused to believe that I never got plastic surgery,” she explained. She added that because so many people believed the fake story really happened, even her family asked Yeh if it was true. She also revealed that the photo of the three kids were actually Photoshopped and they do not look like what is seen on the advertisement.
Other social media controversies from China that became viral in Weibo in the past 12 months include children dressing up as famous painting, China took over Grindr, new and unique ways to ride escalators, the belly button challenge, the broken glass walkway, the expansion of Sina Weibo’s character limit, hashtag #legosforweiwei and the underboob pen challenge.
Memes, photos and video that become viral in China inevitably become global viral hits too. That’s because the number of social media users, despite the “Great Firewall of China,” has reached 650 million or twice the U.S. population, according to the 35th China Internet Development Statistics report released recently by the China Internet Information Center.
