Bad Luck Brian

2012image macrodead

Also known as: Bad Luck Brian Meme · BLB · BAD LUCK BRIAN · Bad Luck Brian

Bad Luck Brian is a 2012 image-macro meme featuring Kyle Craven in a 7th-grade yearbook photo wearing a sweater vest and braces, with two-line captions describing hilariously unfortunate situations.

Bad Luck Brian is an advice animal image macro featuring a 7th-grade yearbook photo of Kyle Craven wearing a plaid sweater vest and braces with an awkward grin. First posted to Reddit in January 2012, the meme pairs this unlucky-looking portrait with two-line captions describing hilariously unfortunate situations. It became one of the most recognizable image macros of the early 2010s and turned Craven into a full-blown internet celebrity.

TL;DR

Bad Luck Brian an image macro format featuring a photo of a socially awkward-looking teenager with captions about experiencing misfortune or bad luck.

Overview

Bad Luck Brian follows the classic advice animal format: a central photo with white Impact font text on top and bottom. The top line sets up a normal or hopeful scenario, and the bottom line delivers a comically terrible outcome. The humor comes from the escalation. The setups are mundane and the payoffs are catastrophic, absurd, or deeply embarrassing2.

The photo itself does a lot of heavy lifting. Craven's forced smile, visible braces, and sweater vest create the perfect visual shorthand for someone the universe has it out for. You don't need to read the caption to know this guy's about to have a bad time4.

On January 23, 2012, Ian Davies uploaded a yearbook photo of his childhood friend Kyle Craven to Reddit3. The two had attended Archbishop Hoban High School together in Akron, Ohio3. The photo dated back to the 2005-06 school year, when Craven was in seventh grade. Before the picture was taken, Craven deliberately rubbed his face with his sweater to make it red and put on a goofy grin3. The school principal wasn't amused and made him retake the photo, but Craven and Davies had already scanned the original3.

Davies posted the image with the caption "Takes driving test... gets first DUI," but it barely registered, pulling fewer than 5 upvotes2. Later that same day, someone else posted a version with the caption "Tries to stealthily fart in class / shits," and that one hit the front page of /r/AdviceAnimals, racking up over 3,300 upvotes within two months2.

Origin & Background

Platform
Reddit/4chan
Key People
Ian Davies, Kyle Craven
Date
2012-01-01
Year
2012

On January 23, 2012, Ian Davies uploaded a yearbook photo of his childhood friend Kyle Craven to Reddit. The two had attended Archbishop Hoban High School together in Akron, Ohio. The photo dated back to the 2005-06 school year, when Craven was in seventh grade. Before the picture was taken, Craven deliberately rubbed his face with his sweater to make it red and put on a goofy grin. The school principal wasn't amused and made him retake the photo, but Craven and Davies had already scanned the original.

Davies posted the image with the caption "Takes driving test... gets first DUI," but it barely registered, pulling fewer than 5 upvotes. Later that same day, someone else posted a version with the caption "Tries to stealthily fart in class / shits," and that one hit the front page of /r/AdviceAnimals, racking up over 3,300 upvotes within two months.

How It Spread

The meme picked up steam fast. By January 29, 2012, the digital marketing blog Twenty Something ran a roundup of notable examples. On March 12, Redditor Very_Juicy posted a version captioned "Falls asleep in class / wet dream" to /r/AdviceAnimals, which pulled nearly 2,900 upvotes in a week.

A week later, the same image hit 9gag and collected over 48,000 likes in 24 hours before spreading to Pinterest. BuzzFeed and Funny or Die both published collections later that month. By June 2012, the Quickmeme page for Bad Luck Brian had received more than 104,000 submissions, and Facebook fan pages were pulling tens of thousands of likes.

The photo also became one of the most popular templates on 4chan, Facebook, and Twitter. The meme spread to FunnyJunk and Tumblr as well, with new variations appearing daily throughout 2012.

Platforms

Reddit4chanimage boardsTwitter9GAG

Timeline

1989-08-10

Kyle Craven, the person behind the Bad Luck Brian meme, was born in Akron, Ohio, where he now works as vice president of his family's construction company.

2018-10-01

McDonald's released an advertisement featuring Kyle Craven discussing his Bad Luck Brian meme fame in connection with their "Trick, Treat, Win!" promotion.

2021-03-01

Kyle Craven sold a Bad Luck Brian NFT for approximately $36,000, capitalizing on the NFT boom.

View on Google Trends

How to Use This Meme

Bad Luck Brian follows a simple two-line format:

1

Top text: A normal, everyday activity or a hopeful scenario (e.g., "Gets invited to a party")

2

Bottom text: A wildly unfortunate or embarrassing outcome (e.g., "Wrong address, shows up to an intervention")

Create Your Own

Cultural Impact

Bad Luck Brian was one of the defining advice animals of the early 2010s meme era, alongside Scumbag Steve, Overly Attached Girlfriend, and Success Kid. The format helped establish the image macro as the dominant meme format on Reddit during that period.

BuzzFeed called one Bad Luck Brian post its most-read article in the site's history at the time. The meme crossed over into mainstream advertising through deals with Volkswagen, McDonald's, and The General insurance. Craven's 2012 Reddit AMA debacle, where the moderator's removal comment became one of the most downvoted in the site's history, showed how seriously the Reddit community took its meme celebrities.

The NFT sale in 2021, fetching around $36,000, placed Bad Luck Brian among the meme NFTs that traded during the digital collectibles boom. The 2026 locker room dedication at his former high school shows the meme's legacy reaching back into the physical world where it started.

Full History

Bad Luck Brian's rise from a forgotten yearbook photo to internet fame happened in a matter of weeks, but its afterlife stretched across a full decade.

The first real test of the meme's cultural reach came on April 11, 2012, when someone claiming to be Bad Luck Brian tried to do an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit. A moderator removed the thread and left a lengthy explanation that backfired spectacularly, receiving more than 35,000 downvotes and becoming one of the most downvoted comments in Reddit history at the time. Kyle Craven returned on May 8 with a proper AMA on the Advice Animals subreddit, which earned 24,722 upvotes. During that thread, Craven revealed the photo was from seventh grade, confirmed his name was Kyle, and shared that his real life was actually pretty lucky. He'd won an Xbox 360 and a PSP within two weeks of each other, and actor Seth Rogen had once recognized him in public.

A recurring joke format emerged where the bottom caption stayed constant across variations. After the original "shits" punchline went viral, dozens of derivatives used the same bottom text with different setups. This kind of template locking was common in advice animal culture but worked especially well with Bad Luck Brian because the character's misfortune could be applied to virtually any scenario.

In 2013, Craven appeared in a YouTube sketch alongside Overly Attached Girlfriend, another advice animal celebrity, playing out a date between the two meme characters. The collaboration pushed Craven to create his own YouTube channel and set up accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

The commercial opportunities followed. Bad Luck Brian showed up on T-shirts, stuffed animals, and novelty items sold through Walmart and Hot Topic. Volkswagen used Craven in an ad campaign. In October 2018, McDonald's released an advertisement featuring Craven discussing his meme fame in connection with their "Trick. Treat. Win!" game, which offered 1-in-4 odds of winning prizes. The ad's Reddit tie-in featured an updated image macro reading "Wins Free McFlurry Instantly / Instant Brain Freeze," which hit /r/CorporateFacepalm and earned over 1,100 upvotes.

By 2023, Craven was still making appearances, starring in a commercial for The General insurance alongside Shaquille O'Neal. Including licensing deals and merchandise, Craven estimated he'd earned about $20,000 within three years starting from 2015.

The meme entered the NFT era in March 2021, when Craven sold a Bad Luck Brian NFT for approximately $36,000. Later that year, he appeared in a Slovak viral campaign for Klostermann Orthodontics promoting clear aligners, created by agency Kreatívna Dvojica, which won several advertising awards.

In 2026, Craven revealed that the boys' locker room at Archbishop Hoban High School had been renamed "The Bad Luck Brian Honorary Boys Locker Room," complete with the rejected yearbook photo on the sign.

Throughout all of this, Craven kept a day job. He holds a Bachelor of Science in construction management from Kent State University and works as vice president of his family's construction company in Bath Township, Ohio.

Fun Facts

The school principal made Craven retake his yearbook photo because he thought Craven was making the face on purpose. He was.

Craven played the hand chimes, a detail revealed during his 2012 Reddit AMA.

Seth Rogen recognized Craven in public, which Craven shared as evidence his real-life luck is actually pretty good.

The moderator who deleted Craven's first AMA attempt received 35,000+ downvotes on their explanation comment.

As of 2025, Craven works as VP of his family's construction company in suburban Akron.

Derivatives & Variations

Countless variations with different bad luck scenarios

A variation of Bad Luck Brian

(2012)

Spin-off formats with similar photo-based character memes

A variation of Bad Luck Brian

(2012)

Bad Luck Brian merchandise

A variation of Bad Luck Brian

(2012)

References in mainstream media

A variation of Bad Luck Brian

(2012)

Parody versions and homages

A variation of Bad Luck Brian

(2012)

Frequently Asked Questions

Bad Luck Brian

2012image macrodead

Also known as: Bad Luck Brian Meme · BLB · BAD LUCK BRIAN · Bad Luck Brian

Bad Luck Brian is a 2012 image-macro meme featuring Kyle Craven in a 7th-grade yearbook photo wearing a sweater vest and braces, with two-line captions describing hilariously unfortunate situations.

Bad Luck Brian is an advice animal image macro featuring a 7th-grade yearbook photo of Kyle Craven wearing a plaid sweater vest and braces with an awkward grin. First posted to Reddit in January 2012, the meme pairs this unlucky-looking portrait with two-line captions describing hilariously unfortunate situations. It became one of the most recognizable image macros of the early 2010s and turned Craven into a full-blown internet celebrity.

TL;DR

Bad Luck Brian an image macro format featuring a photo of a socially awkward-looking teenager with captions about experiencing misfortune or bad luck.

Overview

Bad Luck Brian follows the classic advice animal format: a central photo with white Impact font text on top and bottom. The top line sets up a normal or hopeful scenario, and the bottom line delivers a comically terrible outcome. The humor comes from the escalation. The setups are mundane and the payoffs are catastrophic, absurd, or deeply embarrassing.

The photo itself does a lot of heavy lifting. Craven's forced smile, visible braces, and sweater vest create the perfect visual shorthand for someone the universe has it out for. You don't need to read the caption to know this guy's about to have a bad time.

On January 23, 2012, Ian Davies uploaded a yearbook photo of his childhood friend Kyle Craven to Reddit. The two had attended Archbishop Hoban High School together in Akron, Ohio. The photo dated back to the 2005-06 school year, when Craven was in seventh grade. Before the picture was taken, Craven deliberately rubbed his face with his sweater to make it red and put on a goofy grin. The school principal wasn't amused and made him retake the photo, but Craven and Davies had already scanned the original.

Davies posted the image with the caption "Takes driving test... gets first DUI," but it barely registered, pulling fewer than 5 upvotes. Later that same day, someone else posted a version with the caption "Tries to stealthily fart in class / shits," and that one hit the front page of /r/AdviceAnimals, racking up over 3,300 upvotes within two months.

Origin & Background

Platform
Reddit/4chan
Key People
Ian Davies, Kyle Craven
Date
2012-01-01
Year
2012

On January 23, 2012, Ian Davies uploaded a yearbook photo of his childhood friend Kyle Craven to Reddit. The two had attended Archbishop Hoban High School together in Akron, Ohio. The photo dated back to the 2005-06 school year, when Craven was in seventh grade. Before the picture was taken, Craven deliberately rubbed his face with his sweater to make it red and put on a goofy grin. The school principal wasn't amused and made him retake the photo, but Craven and Davies had already scanned the original.

Davies posted the image with the caption "Takes driving test... gets first DUI," but it barely registered, pulling fewer than 5 upvotes. Later that same day, someone else posted a version with the caption "Tries to stealthily fart in class / shits," and that one hit the front page of /r/AdviceAnimals, racking up over 3,300 upvotes within two months.

How It Spread

The meme picked up steam fast. By January 29, 2012, the digital marketing blog Twenty Something ran a roundup of notable examples. On March 12, Redditor Very_Juicy posted a version captioned "Falls asleep in class / wet dream" to /r/AdviceAnimals, which pulled nearly 2,900 upvotes in a week.

A week later, the same image hit 9gag and collected over 48,000 likes in 24 hours before spreading to Pinterest. BuzzFeed and Funny or Die both published collections later that month. By June 2012, the Quickmeme page for Bad Luck Brian had received more than 104,000 submissions, and Facebook fan pages were pulling tens of thousands of likes.

The photo also became one of the most popular templates on 4chan, Facebook, and Twitter. The meme spread to FunnyJunk and Tumblr as well, with new variations appearing daily throughout 2012.

Platforms

Reddit4chanimage boardsTwitter9GAG

Timeline

1989-08-10

Kyle Craven, the person behind the Bad Luck Brian meme, was born in Akron, Ohio, where he now works as vice president of his family's construction company.

2018-10-01

McDonald's released an advertisement featuring Kyle Craven discussing his Bad Luck Brian meme fame in connection with their "Trick, Treat, Win!" promotion.

2021-03-01

Kyle Craven sold a Bad Luck Brian NFT for approximately $36,000, capitalizing on the NFT boom.

View on Google Trends

How to Use This Meme

Bad Luck Brian follows a simple two-line format:

1

Top text: A normal, everyday activity or a hopeful scenario (e.g., "Gets invited to a party")

2

Bottom text: A wildly unfortunate or embarrassing outcome (e.g., "Wrong address, shows up to an intervention")

Create Your Own

Cultural Impact

Bad Luck Brian was one of the defining advice animals of the early 2010s meme era, alongside Scumbag Steve, Overly Attached Girlfriend, and Success Kid. The format helped establish the image macro as the dominant meme format on Reddit during that period.

BuzzFeed called one Bad Luck Brian post its most-read article in the site's history at the time. The meme crossed over into mainstream advertising through deals with Volkswagen, McDonald's, and The General insurance. Craven's 2012 Reddit AMA debacle, where the moderator's removal comment became one of the most downvoted in the site's history, showed how seriously the Reddit community took its meme celebrities.

The NFT sale in 2021, fetching around $36,000, placed Bad Luck Brian among the meme NFTs that traded during the digital collectibles boom. The 2026 locker room dedication at his former high school shows the meme's legacy reaching back into the physical world where it started.

Full History

Bad Luck Brian's rise from a forgotten yearbook photo to internet fame happened in a matter of weeks, but its afterlife stretched across a full decade.

The first real test of the meme's cultural reach came on April 11, 2012, when someone claiming to be Bad Luck Brian tried to do an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit. A moderator removed the thread and left a lengthy explanation that backfired spectacularly, receiving more than 35,000 downvotes and becoming one of the most downvoted comments in Reddit history at the time. Kyle Craven returned on May 8 with a proper AMA on the Advice Animals subreddit, which earned 24,722 upvotes. During that thread, Craven revealed the photo was from seventh grade, confirmed his name was Kyle, and shared that his real life was actually pretty lucky. He'd won an Xbox 360 and a PSP within two weeks of each other, and actor Seth Rogen had once recognized him in public.

A recurring joke format emerged where the bottom caption stayed constant across variations. After the original "shits" punchline went viral, dozens of derivatives used the same bottom text with different setups. This kind of template locking was common in advice animal culture but worked especially well with Bad Luck Brian because the character's misfortune could be applied to virtually any scenario.

In 2013, Craven appeared in a YouTube sketch alongside Overly Attached Girlfriend, another advice animal celebrity, playing out a date between the two meme characters. The collaboration pushed Craven to create his own YouTube channel and set up accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

The commercial opportunities followed. Bad Luck Brian showed up on T-shirts, stuffed animals, and novelty items sold through Walmart and Hot Topic. Volkswagen used Craven in an ad campaign. In October 2018, McDonald's released an advertisement featuring Craven discussing his meme fame in connection with their "Trick. Treat. Win!" game, which offered 1-in-4 odds of winning prizes. The ad's Reddit tie-in featured an updated image macro reading "Wins Free McFlurry Instantly / Instant Brain Freeze," which hit /r/CorporateFacepalm and earned over 1,100 upvotes.

By 2023, Craven was still making appearances, starring in a commercial for The General insurance alongside Shaquille O'Neal. Including licensing deals and merchandise, Craven estimated he'd earned about $20,000 within three years starting from 2015.

The meme entered the NFT era in March 2021, when Craven sold a Bad Luck Brian NFT for approximately $36,000. Later that year, he appeared in a Slovak viral campaign for Klostermann Orthodontics promoting clear aligners, created by agency Kreatívna Dvojica, which won several advertising awards.

In 2026, Craven revealed that the boys' locker room at Archbishop Hoban High School had been renamed "The Bad Luck Brian Honorary Boys Locker Room," complete with the rejected yearbook photo on the sign.

Throughout all of this, Craven kept a day job. He holds a Bachelor of Science in construction management from Kent State University and works as vice president of his family's construction company in Bath Township, Ohio.

Fun Facts

The school principal made Craven retake his yearbook photo because he thought Craven was making the face on purpose. He was.

Craven played the hand chimes, a detail revealed during his 2012 Reddit AMA.

Seth Rogen recognized Craven in public, which Craven shared as evidence his real-life luck is actually pretty good.

The moderator who deleted Craven's first AMA attempt received 35,000+ downvotes on their explanation comment.

As of 2025, Craven works as VP of his family's construction company in suburban Akron.

Derivatives & Variations

Countless variations with different bad luck scenarios

A variation of Bad Luck Brian

(2012)

Spin-off formats with similar photo-based character memes

A variation of Bad Luck Brian

(2012)

Bad Luck Brian merchandise

A variation of Bad Luck Brian

(2012)

References in mainstream media

A variation of Bad Luck Brian

(2012)

Parody versions and homages

A variation of Bad Luck Brian

(2012)

Frequently Asked Questions